Inheritor A YuGiOh! Based Fic
by IsaacTales2
Summary: A strange world that does not know its true history is doing what it can to progress and learn the true history. Among humans and beastian, one duelist struggles to live in a world that is built upon the remains of the old world for a bright future. AU
1. Miracle of a Guardian Angel

_(A/N: Well guys, this is it; the beginning of a remake. It's time to start over what was already the strangest fanfic you might have ever seen in your entire life. For those who've read this series before, be warned that nothing will be the same as before. Everything that happens here is revised from the original and changed drastically. Many characters will be removed and new faces will emerge throughout the series for now on. The story you knew is also different, but to how much is up to you to determine. For everyone who never read this series then it'll be a fresh start and hopefully you enjoy it._

_And to those new readers I will say this, this is set in an alternate universe that is separate from the main Yugi-verse. Anything that happens in this fanfic has no effect on the main Yugi-verse at all. All cards outside of fake cards belong to Kazuki Takahashi/Konami and pretty much the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise. Any fake cards not made by me will be credited accordingly, but otherwise they are mine. So without further ado, enjoy the fanfic._

_PS: Special thanks to my Beta-Reader for suggestions, proofreading, etc.)_

-----------------

_**Inheritor: A Yu-Gi-Oh! Based Fanfic**_

**Chapter 1: Miracle of a Guardian Angel**

-----------------

The sunlight was piercing through the treetops, its rays reflecting toward an opening in the forest where a large ruin was found. The ruin was embedded in the side of a large cliff, and appeared to be about three stories high. Inside one of the rooms of this large ruin were many different things; from broken down wooden chairs to wooden drawers. There was also a bookcase with many dusty books just wasting away on the shelves with a small chest on the top shelf.

Someone was inside the ruin as well. A little boy with his green cat-like eyes peered into the room from the darkness that filled the halls not touched by sunlight. The boy walked into the room and the sunlight bathed his body with its light.

The boy appeared to be a cat that was standing up like a human. His body was covered in black fur with his tail sticking out from the underside of his brown raggedy robe. He appeared to be the size of a 10-year old.

He cautiously looked around with curiosity until he looked up at the bookcase and saw the small chest, which let out a slight shine after looking at it from an angle.

"Look at that." the boy muttered, with his attention on the chest.

He slowly began to climb the bookcase, extending his claws to keep a firm grip as he climbed. Just as he was close to the top, he felt like the shelf was wobbling, and he held on tight as the bookcase fell on top of him. "Ahhh!!!"

A moment after falling he squirmed out of the mess of books that were now scattered all over the floor. He started to toss the books aside while digging for the chest that fell over, until at last he found it.

"Got it." He looked pretty excited as he extended one of his sharp nails and used it to pick at the small lock on the chest. After it had come undone he opened it up and inside the chest were what appeared to be Duel Monsters cards. There was dust on the top of them for having been inside for so long. He picked up the small deck of cards and blew away the dust and started to toss aside cards as he looked through them.

He looked at one card that was on top of the deck and smiled with satisfaction. "Found one."

As he searched through the cards, tossing aside those he doesn't want, something was quietly approach where he was. His ears twitched as he heard something faint. He turned toward the sound and shouted, "Who...who's there!?" A large creature emerged from the dark hallway. It appeared to be a large hound of some kind, with bare red skin and strange horns coming out of its back. The boy started to worry as the creature barked at him.

He started to climb out of the window, leapt onto a stone roof of another story of the building and then leapt to the ground with relative ease. The vicious demonic hound chased him as it followed him down the same way he did. The boy ran as fast as he could, holding the Duel Monsters cards that he collected in his arms while being chased by the vicious creature. Soon he tripped over a rock which caused him to drop all his cards.

The hound lunged at him as the boy shielded himself with fright. Just before it could reach him, something flies through the air and pierces through the hound. The hound yelped in pain as it gets shredded by small circular black blades in the shape of stars. Still quivering in fear, the boy opened his eyes to see the creature dead.

"Quite a close call, eh kid." said an unfamiliar voice. The boy looked toward the sound of the voice and out of the bush came a human girl. She wore a bright red ninja suit, had a brown bag on the back of her waist and a katana just right below it. There was a Duel Deck Box hanging on the side of her waist she and a strange looking cap on top of her head. Her hair was blonde and it appeared to split down just past her shoulders. She appeared to be 18. She put her hand out and asked him rather friendly, "You're not hurt are you?"

The boy didn't know what to do other than be frightened by this mysterious stranger. He quickly scampered around on the ground and picked up the cards that he dropped. The girl walked over to him and leaned down with a curious look on her face, yet retaining the friendly smile she had. "Whatcha got there, little guy?" The boy was spooked for a moment as one of the cards fell to the ground, which happened to be Guardian Angel Kasket. The girl curiously picks it up despite the boy's objections.

"Duel Monsters cards, huh?" she noted while inspecting the card, "A rare one too at that."

"Please," the boy begged, "That's my treasure! Give it back!"

"What this thing?" the girl wondered. The boy's eyes began to water as if he was about to cry. She gave it back to him shortly after, snatched from her hand as the boy before resumed to pick up the other cards too. "So I take it you like collecting Duel Monsters cards? Where'd you get them?"

The boy didn't look at her but only stopped for a moment to answer her. "No place."

"No place huh?" the girl wondered suspiciously, "Well I saw you coming out of that ruin a moment ago, did you get them there? Because I got to say, finding a rare card like that from a ruin is quite a feat, even for a kid."

"It was a present."

"I see. You must be lucky then to get something like that as a gift or whatever." The boy said nothing as Ayami then picked up one of the cards he missed and held it in front of his face. He looked up at her as she said, "You know it's quite dangerous to be out here by yourself, even Beastian children know it's dangerous without adult supervision. How about I take you home, okay?"

The boy appeared uncertain for a moment, but he nodded. She handed him the card and then he got up to his feet. "You'll be safe with me." said the girl, offering her hand out to him. He grabbed it with his paw as they walked through the forest together. "By the way, the name's Ayami, Sukioh Ayami. What's yours?"

"...Meo."

"Meo, huh? That's a nice name."

-----------------

They later arrive at a large wooden shack. The shack was big enough to house a small family; though the condition of the house looked a little run-down while still being habitable. Around the back was a small garden of fruits and vegetables that is easy to grow. Ayami knocked on the door a few times. "Hello! Anybody home!? I got your kid with me!" She then opened the door and took a step inside just to yell out again, "Hello!? Anybody!?" There was nothing but silence in the shack. "I guess no one's home." She turned to Meo who was just walking inside, heading toward a room. "You wouldn't happen to know where your parents are, do you?"

"...My mama is out at the market."

"Okay, what about your father?" Meo just stopped and tilted his head down as if he was sad about it. "Don't want to talk about it huh? Well no biggie, I guess I can just wait here until your mother gets back then."

She followed him into what appeared to be his room. It had a small bed made just for him and several drawers. A small window was on the other side of the room with a hint of sunlight pouring in. Meo opened up the smallest drawer that was closest to his bed and placed the cards he gathered inside. He then pulled out the Guardian Angel Kasket card from his robe and placed it on a small stand on top of his drawer. He stared at it for a moment until Ayami spooked him. "So is this where you keep your cards?"

Meo was surprised by her being close and backed away. She took a peek inside the drawer to find a whole assortment of cards. She gathered them up into a deck and stared at them in an awe inspired gaze. "Wow, you pretty much have a decks worth of cards."

"Please, put them back! They're part of my collection!"

"So you are collecting Duel Monsters cards. Well that's cool seeing a Beastian who's into collecting them. I don't know a lot of Beastian who would collect these cards, even in the city, so I never would expect field folk like you to be into them."

Meo leapt at her hands and snatched the deck from her before putting it back inside the drawer. Ayami smiled as she an idea entered her head. She opened up her Deck Box and pulled out her own deck of cards.

"Tell you what, if you let me see your collection I'll let you see mine. Well it's not as much a collection as it is just a dueling deck, but still I'd like to see what you have."

Her face appeared innocent enough but Meo was unsure if it's really alright to hand something over to someone he just met. He moaned for a moment before taking the deck out and doing an exchange with her.

She shuffled through the deck one card at a time, placing the top card to the bottom while commenting on the monster cards that were inside. "You certainly like to collect a lot of Fairy-type monsters. Though you don't seem to have any kind of Spell or Trap card in here."

"They're angels." Meo commented, looking through her deck the same way but wasn't excited like Ayami was.

"Well I got to admit, every monster here looks like an angel in one way or another. Though why you only chose just those I'll never know."

Meo discovered one card that caught his attention and was completely fascinated by how it appeared. The card was Mirror Force and the artwork and name text seemed to shine upon looking at it.

"I see you found my Mirror Force card." said Ayami, bending down to see.

"Mirror Force?"

"Yep. This card is extremely rare. It can destroy any attacking monster that tries to attack you; it comes in real handy when I definitely need it." Meo stared at the card for a moment before he and Ayami switched decks back with each other. As he started to put away his cards, Ayami took the card out of her deck and offered it to him. "You know I think your collection would look really nice if it had at least one rare card in it, you know what I mean?"

She handed him the card and he asked curiously, "I...I can keep this?"

"Sure. I mean okay, it's rare and hard to come by, but consider it a gift for having such a nice collection. Who knows, maybe you'll want to use it to duel with."

Meo blushed, "Th...Thank you."

-----------------

Some time passes and a tall white female cat approached the shack. She appeared to look like an adult version of Meo, being like a real cat that can move like a human, but had white fur instead of black. Her eyes were blue and she wore a violet and blue dress. She was carrying a large brown basket around her shoulder, with some fruit and some small bags in it. She noticed that the door was open and cautiously stepped inside. "Hello?! Meo!"

Meo was still in his room when he heard her voice and looked happy. "Mama's home!" He ran out of his room and ran into his mother's arms. "Mama!"

Ayami stepped out of the room and smiled. "So you're the lucky parent of this adorable kitten."

The white cat stood up and looked nervous about the stranger in her house. "Wh...Who are you?"

"Why I'm Ayami! Second-in-command of the Ninja Branch of the Arcum Military, at your service!" The white cat looked confused and didn't know what to say about this. Ayami looked nice enough but she was still a human. "Anyway, I was just making sure your child wasn't alone, since he got himself into quite a bit of trouble while you were out."

"Is that so?" the white cat looked rather displeased as she looked at her son. Meo looked slightly guilty over the fact that he was out in a ruin.

"Anyway, now that you're here I need to get going, but first I want to ask you something."

-----------------

Minutes later the white cat poured some milk into a small glass while Ayami sat at a table. In the corner Meo was reading a book of some kind. Ayami complimented her, "Why thank you, Mrs..."

"Lightfoot. Eliza Lightfoot."

Ayami scratched her chin and pondered, "Lightfoot huh...hmm..." She thought for a moment as if she remembered something. Eliza looked rather worried about what she was thinking but soon Ayami got out of thought, "Ah well. Anyway, I was wondering if you've seen any suspicious looking humans around here, especially at any towns you've visited."

"I can't say that I have. The only town I go to is the one just southeast of here and it's populated only with Beastian."

"I see. Because you see, I was sent to find a bandit who had escaped from a local prison in another region just west of here." She pulled out a poster from her bag and showed it to her. The picture was in black and white and had a picture of a man with short long hair. "His name was Lemiuex. Apparently the Royal Guard were having trouble with tracking him, so me and a few of my men are out looking for him. He was reported to of last been seen in this region."

Eliza frowned, "Well I'm sorry, but I haven't seen anybody like that around here. None of the other folk in town seem to know anything about this sort of thing either."

"It's alright." Ayami rolled up the poster and put it back in her bag, "Thank you anyway." She then drank the whole cup of milk in one sitting. After that she got up and wiped her mouth, "Thanks again for the milk, it was really good."

"No problem and thank you again for looking after my son. He's all that's left to me." Meo looked up at her from his book, wondering what they're talking about.

"Well it was nice meeting you both! And if you do learn anything please report to the guard post that's north of here! Good bye!" Ayami waved at them and then exited the shack.

After she had left, Meo closed his book and put it away on a shelf next to him. He began to head for the door but Eliza grabbed him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I...I was only going to go out and play." Meo replied innocently.

"You were going to go out to that ruin again." Eliza tugged on his ear, "I've told you many times not to go there."

"But mama..."

"No buts!" she scolded him. She walked him into his room and says, "Now please...play in here while I get dinner ready."

She closed the door as Meo went to the drawer with his cards. He took a look at his Guardian Angel Kasket card. "You wouldn't let papa get hurt while exploring ruins. You never did." He then took the card and hides it in his robe. He proceeded to climb out the window and ran toward the forest.

-----------------

In another part of the region was a horse-drawn wagon being accompanied by a few plate-armored men with swords. They were leaving from a small village not too far away. Inside the wagon is a man in fancier plate-armored and a red cape. His brown hair was slightly long and it reached the back of his neck. He was looking at a map which shows the entire region he was in with a list of residents and their map references on the side.

"Hmm…" he mumbled, "This region certainly doesn't have a lot of residents living here. Only two towns, one human and one beastian and not even half a dozen single settlements. Quite boring, but either way it at least pays to collect taxes."

One of the men outside the wagon asks, "Sir, where we heading for now?"

The man moved his finger around the map until he found one that hasn't been marked off yet. "Here's one." He took a glance at the list of residents that are referenced to find out who lived in the place he pointed to. "This is the last settlement, belonging to...the Lightfoot residence?"

"Something wrong?"

The man inside the wagon just smiled. "So he does have a family. This should be interesting."

-----------------

Meo looked up toward the ruins after having reached it once again. "Maybe now with that monster gone, it'll be a lot more safer to explore," muttered Meo.

He entered a part of a ruin that he felt hasn't been explored yet. He had visited the ruins many times and often explored the rooms several times looking for hidden treasure. He looked excited as he entered an entirely different part of the ruin. "There's an area I haven't explored yet!" He ran through the hall, just running excitingly until he fell through the floor and landed on his face.

"Owww…" he moaned. He leaned up and felt a little pain on the front of his body. He noticed there was dirt on his robe and brushed it off. There were vines growing along the wall of the hole he well in and he noticed them leading all the way up. "Thank goodness for the wall."

He went up to the wall and began to climb on it, when something gleamed behind him and caught his attention. He looked toward the gleam before leaping off the wall and walk toward the direction of the gleam. He approached a doorway that was covered by a sheet and pulled the sheet away, revealing a large room with many statues of angels all over.

"Wow…" Meo looked amazed at what he was seeing. There was a large golden treasure chest sitting in the center of the room. He ran over to it and started to inspect it. There were some strange carvings on the sides but he didn't pay mind to it. "What could be inside?"

Meo struggled to get the top of the chest to open. The chest was made out of gold and yet it was still heavier than even he could imagine. He pushes with all his might until the top finally comes down with a loud clang. He looked inside the treasure chest and pulled out what was inside. It was a Duel Disk, but instead of having a randomly colored plating to go on top of a white base, the color plating was gold on top of a white base. Meo looked at it for a moment and even looked at his reflection. "Neat."

There was something else inside the chest. It appeared to be a Duel Monsters card. He reached into the chest, nearly falling in and grabbed the card. He turned over the back of the card to find a blank white image. "Huh? It's blank!"

He stared at it for a moment with doubt on how this could be treasure. Just then he heard a voice coming from somewhere. He looked around and saw no one. He decided to put the card in his robe and carry the Duel Disk with him as he climbed out of the chamber that he had found by the vine wall. He failed to notice the silhouette of a large angelic creature that loomed from above the chest after he left the room.

-----------------

Eliza was in the kitchen making dinner as she called out to her son, "Meo! It's just about time to eat!" There was no response. She started to walk toward his room, "Meo! Did you hear me!? Meo!" She opened his door to find he wasn't there and started to panic. "Meo! Where are you!?"

She heard a knock at the door. She proceeded to answer it and at the door was the man in fancy armor. "Good afternoon madam. I believe you're Mrs. Lightfoot, yes?"

"Yes, and who might you be?"

The man introduced himself, "Why my name is Lance Lemiuex and I will be your tax collector for this month."

Eliza looked surprised, "Tax collector? B...But it's not even that time of the month."

"Well you see, the king has decreed to have taxes be collected earlier than the usual monthly rate. I apologize if this is an inconvenience, but that's the way it is." Eliza appeared unpleased with what he said. He took out a piece of paper as he continued, "Now based on our last visit you were to pay 20 silver pieces for this month. Doesn't seem too much but I'm sure you can squeeze it out, even for this early in the month."

She frowned, "I...I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting you to come so soon, I was hoping to..."

Lance gazed at her suspiciously. "Hoping to what, Mrs. Lightfoot,? You should always be able to pay your monthly taxes, no matter when it needs to be done. You are aware of what happens to those who don't pay their taxes on time, do you?" He came closer to her and leered into her blue cat-like eyes. "If you can't pay then you can pay by serving time in prison. Everyone else has been able to pay off their debts despite the change in the schedule, even the beastian half were able to squeeze in some money to pay off their taxes. Now you don't want to be the only one of them to be spending time alone in a cell, do you? I have one just for you in the guard post here; if you don't pay."

Eliza was starting to look horrified by what might happen. "Please...can't we have just a little bit more time? I just need to spend a little more time selling our house-grown goods."

Lance only smiled after seeing the look on her face, "Well I'm sorry. However there is one other way you could pay off your debt." He pushed open the door, causing her to step back a bit as he stepped inside the doorway. "We could take something of good worth in compensation. How does that sound?" Eliza scowled after hearing that.

-----------------

Meo was running out of the forest while holding the Duel Disk in his arms. He reached the window leading into his room and took a moment to look at his newly acquired Duel Disk. "I need to hide you especially."

He grabbed onto the window to climb into his room but quickly dropped back down upon hearing someone else entering the room. Lance and Eliza were entering the room with Lance talking to Eliza, "Well so far I'm not all too impressed with what you have. Surely you would have something of more worth to give away." Meo listened to their conversation and watched quietly from outside.

"Please sir, if you could just consider letting us have more time..."

"I already told you I don't make exceptions and neither does the king." He began to search through Meo's drawers and began pulling out different children's toys, throwing them on the floor. Meo winced as his things were being thrown on the floor.

"Nothing but trash!" Lance shouted with disgusted, "Is there anything of worth here?!" He pulled open the one drawer that contains Meo's cards and immediately becomes interested, "Oh my, what do we have here?"

As he picked up the deck of cards, Meo cried out, "Wait!" Lance paused and saw him climb through the window. "That's my treasure! Please don't take my treasure!"

"Meo!" Eliza exclaimed, "Where have you..."

"Enough," Lance interrupted. He walked over to Meo who was by the window, "So you must be Giera's son. I suspected that the master thief himself would have a family somewhere. As soon as I read the word Lightfoot on your family's tax record I knew that it might be the same Lightfoot that Giera was known for. I could tell by looking at you that you look just like him."

"Please sir, can I have my treasure back? It means a whole lot to me."

Lance looked at the deck and commented, "You call this a treasure? They're only cards, only meant for amusement! There's hardly anything rare about them so to call these your treasure is an absolute joke!" He began to look through the deck of cards one card at a time. He chuckled slightly after looking at only a few. "Besides, these are nothing but trash cards. Commons not even worth selling." He dropped the deck onto the floor, which caused them to scatter all over the floor.

"No!" Meo cried out as he began to frantically pick them up and try to put them back together. Eliza looked away, not wanting to bare the sight of it.

Lance turned to Eliza, "Well then, I guess that's all you have to show me?" Eliza regrettably nodded. "Well I suppose I have no other choice. Seeing as how you can't pay off the tax you'll have to spend some time in a prison cell. On the other hand..." He picked up Meo by the back of the neck, causing him to drop his cards and making Eliza frightened. "I could just take him instead! After all, no way a child can survive without his mother anyway!"

"No!" Eliza begged, "Let him go!"

Meo squirmed in place as the blank card he had and Guardian Angel Kasket drop from his robe and onto the floor. There was a slight shine from the artwork of Guardian Angel Kasket which caught Lance's attention. He started to pick it up as Meo was dropped onto the floor. He stared at it for a moment and commented, "Now this is a surprise."

"Stop, that's my papa's card!" cried Meo, "It's my most prized possession!"

"Meo!" Eliza grabbed him and covered him in her arms.

Lance made a short glance at them before turning his gaze back at the card. "I could see why. This card seems to be one of a kind despite being of Super Rare quality. The last time I've looked at a checklist I don't ever recall seeing this one being on any of them. This card alone could be worth just enough to compensate for the tax you couldn't pay, maybe more if you were smart enough to have given this to the University. They would of paid handsomely to mass-produce this card, but I suppose that will never happen. So what do you say? Will you use this as compensation?"

Eliza didn't say anything but looked worried over what may happen. Meo started getting angry however as he squirmed out of her arms. "Meo!"

He lunged at Lance's arm and bit him. Lance was surprised and angry by this act. "Ow! You little..."

"Meo stop!" Eliza begged as she got up to pull Meo off. Lance dropped the card from his hand as Meo is pulled away, no longer in a state of anger.

Lance looked appalled by what had happened. His arm wasn't completely covered in armor and he was bitten where the cloth was. There was a small blood stain around the bite marks. "Why you filthy creature...you dare bite me?!" He stomped on the card, Meo appeared very shocked as Lance walked over to the two, "If you're going to behave like an animal then you'll just have to die like an animal; alone!"

He grabbed Eliza by the back of the neck and pulled her away. "Mama!" Meo cried out.

"Me…ugh!" She tried to call back to him but Lance had her choked slightly.

"You should of just behaved like a good kitten." said Lance coldly, "Now this is the price you must pay."

Meo got on his knees and begged, "Please, let her go! I'm sorry for biting, I won't do it again!" He began to cry, "Please, she's all I have left!"

"Hmm..." Lance mumbled. He then let out a smirk as he thought of something, "Alright. I suppose I'm willing to forgive you for that short little outburst just now, however...I can't simply bend the rules as it is. Since neither of you can pay compensation for the remaining tax I'm afraid I have to keep with my word. Unless...I decide to overlook it."

Meo looked up at him, still with a few tears in his eyes as Lance continued, "You certainly treasure your cards more than you do your own mother. So why not put them to good use? Come to the guard tower before I leave tomorrow morning, and we'll play a game of Duel Monsters. If you win I'll let your mother go and I'll pardon you both as compensation. But if you lose, then I'm afraid you won't be seeing your mother for a very long time. This is your one chance, don't blow it." He started to take Eliza away, "Unless you're afraid to come challenge me alone you better think of how you're going to live by your lonesome!"

Meo just knelled there and trembled. "Mama..."

-----------------

Not long after, Lance and his group have left the area, taking Eliza along with them. She could only watch from inside the wagon as her home was getting further out of sight. She could do nothing with her paws tied behind her back.

"Don't feel so glum, madam." said Lance, "You still have a chance to see him again. Just pray he can duel better than he does collecting." Eliza looked down all depressed.

-----------------

The sun was starting to set in the distance while Ayami stumbled upon a trail embedded on a dirt road. She knells down and feels it with her hand. "This was made not too long ago. I wonder what wagon came through here."

A small white bird flew around her from above. Attached to it was a small piece of paper around its foot. She let out her arm so it can perch on her and then proceeded to untie the paper off its leg. She unfolded the paper and read it, "So the village-folk have been getting taxed early. That doesn't seem right, unless…" She thought for a moment and then appeared shocked, "Of course! It must be his doing! Maybe there's still a chance to catch him!" She dashed down the road toward the south.

-----------------

She soon arrived at the shack and noticed that the wagon tracks had lead to here. "No…don't tell me." She knocked on the shack door and yelled frantically, "Hey! Mrs. Lightfoot!? Hey!!!" The door creaked open and she stepped inside.

The inside of the shack appeared to be in a mess. Books were scattered on the floor, tables and chairs have been knocked over and there was crushed fruit on the kitchen floor. Ayami appeared surprised by what had happened here. "No way…" She muttered.

She then ran into Meo's room, "Meo!!! Tell me you're still here!" The room was empty and no one else was in there beside herself. She turned her head to examine the room and noticed that the drawer that had Meo's deck was empty. The Guardian Angel Kasket card that was on top of the drawer was no longer there. "Dammit! He must have taken them!"

She bolted out of the shack and followed the trail left by the wagon. "For him to impersonate a tax collector…I can't forgive him!" she thought to herself, "Hang on you two, I'll get you out of this!"

-----------------

Night time had fallen as Meo arrived at a small stone tower that appeared to be the guard post. There were men there that were not wearing their plate armor and were loading crates into multiple wagons.

"Hey, isn't that the kid the boss mentioned?" One of the men loading the crates commented as Meo approached them.

"He came after all." another one noted, "Well this should be interesting then." They both snicker as Meo glared at them.

-----------------

Lance was counting up the gold he had collected inside the tower that seemed to spiral upward. Near him was a prison cell where Eliza was. She sat there in depression as she looked up out the window above her and thought, "Where are you Giera? I wish you were here to save me again." She started to form tears in her eyes.

"Well it might have not been much of a haul, but I'm sure the next region will have more to gain. After all it was easy enough to take over this tower of weaklings." Lance said to himself while counting the gold pieces that he had collected from people.

"What should we do about the Beastian woman?" the man in the room with him asked.

"I'm sure we can sell her off to some land lord or something. She looks fit enough to be somebody's maid. We could fetch a bit of money in the slave trade with her." He chuckled at the sound of the idea.

"Hey boss, that kid you told us about is here!" Another man shouted out as he entered the room. Meo walked into the room afterwards and the man left the room.

Lance stood up and smiled, "My my, so you've come after all. In all honesty I didn't expect you would come, but I see you have more love for your mother than I thought."

"Please sir, where's my mama?" Meo begged him.

Lance pointed toward the door, "Oh she's in the prison cell behind me, but the only way you'll see her is if you beat me first. As I said, we're going to be playing Duel Monsters, and if you win I would let her go. Just note that if you lose, you won't be able to see her for a long time. And just to make it more interesting, we're going to play city-style."

He reached up to a shelf that hung on the wall and took down a Duel Disk. He tossed it to Meo who caught it. Meo started to inspect it, and even sniffing it as he had no idea what exactly he was holding. Lance took down another Duel Disk from the shelf and explained everything, "We call those Duel Disks. In the capital they are really popular among the high-class. Designed after the original models found in ruins all over the world, the University gets big money for these; as well as for the cards themselves. You can say that they literally bring the game to life."

"This is just like the treasure I found back at the ruin." Meo thought to himself.

"Now then, just attach the Duel Disk to your left arm and insert your deck into the top-most slot. This will activate the Duel Disk." He attached the Duel Disk to his arm, which locked itself onto him. He then took out a deck from his pocket and inserted it into the Duel Disk, turning it on. "You can place Monster cards into the top lower slots while beneath them are slots for your Spells and Trap cards. The middle slot above them is where your Graveyard is. The rest you have to figure out, as you should be aware on how the game works, for one who collects the cards."

"I see." Meo appeared uncertain about this but proceeded to do everything he was told to. He attached the Duel Disk onto his arm and like Lance said it locked onto his arm. He appeared surprised for a moment by how the Duel Disk seems to function. He then placed his deck into the Duel Disk and it activates.

"Now let us begin!" They stared at each for a moment and the duel began.

(Meo: 4000 LP/Lance: 4000 LP)

"The first move is mine." Lance declared and he proceeded to draw his card. "I summon Makyura the Destructor in attack mode!" A humanoid creature appeared, it was wearing a mix of purple and yellow armor, wielding two arm weapons with three blades attached like claws, and on his head were two axe-like blades and a mask with a yellow eye on it (ATK 1600).

The monster moaned rather creepily which caused Meo to be frightened. Lance chuckled at the sight of him being afraid. "What's wrong? It's just a hologram."

"Hol...Hologram?"

"That's right. They are images that are projected through the Duel Disks. They produce the image of the monsters that are shown on the cards. Everything you see isn't real per say, but it certainly looks real enough don't you think?" He took a card from his hand and placed it in his Duel Disk, "I set 1 card face-down. That ends my turn. Let's see what you got, little one."

"R...Right." Meo stuttered as he drew his card. Looking at the monster made him nervous as it looked like it really wanted to kill him. He took a big gulp and proceeded to set a card, "I play this!" The card appeared face-down horizontally. "And I...um...end my turn."

"This kid is easy to scare." thought Lance, smiling sinisterly, "Maybe I can have some fun with him before I beat him."

"It's my turn now!" After drawing his card he pointed toward Meo's face-down monster and declared, "Makyura the Destructor will attack your face-down card!" Makyura leapt into the air and then came down; slashing the card with both his arm blades and revealing the card to be Skelengel, who shatters into pixels upon being destroyed. Meo appeared very frightened as Makyura was right in front of him. The monster leapt back to its side of the field.

"Because Skelengel was flipped, its effect can activate. Now you can draw 1 card from your deck. Go on, do it." Meo nodded and drew his card. He appeared to be shaking in fear as his paws can't stop trembling. "I end my turn."

"M...My turn." He drew his card, the card being Mirror Force. He looked at it for a moment and remembered when Ayami gave him the card. "This is..." The image of Ayami filled his head. "I play these cards!" He sets both a monster and his Mirror Force on the field. "I end my turn."

"So he does have a Trap card after all. No matter, I'm sure it's something as useless as Reinforcements or Castle Walls." Lance thought about the possibility of those cards and then proceeded with his turn. "My turn then. Makyura the Destructor, attack his face-down card!"

Makyura leapt into the air again as if to perform another attack while Meo thought, "If I use Mirror Force, I can destroy it! I can! I..." As it got closer, Meo panicked and didn't respond at all. He watched as Makyura shredded his face-down monster, being Petit Angel.

"Just as I thought, it's nothing he can use at all!" Lance thought to himself while he smiled with utter satisfaction.

"I...I couldn't do it." thought Meo, "If I can't destroy that thing, how am I ever going to win?"

Lance pointed at Meo and retorted, "It's your turn. I mean come now, if you aren't going to attack me then at least put up a better defense." Meo scowled as he drew his card and set a monster.

"Well then I guess I can at least make you dance. Now dance!" As the duel went on, Makyura destroyed every monster that Meo placed onto the field. All he could do was to continue setting monsters on the field without doing anything else. The whole time Lance was laughing at Meo's misfortune. Meo was also starting to lose hope as everything shatters in front of his eyes.

-----------------

Inside one of the wagons, Ayami was looking through an opened crate while the unconscious bodies of Lance's men were on the floor. She pulled out documents that were on top of gold and other supplies and examined them. "I knew it. These guys were passing themselves off as tax collectors after all. But, where could the Lightfoots be?"

-----------------

Makyura proceeded to destroy another monster of Meo's. Lance yawned out of boredom after what seemed to of been six turns into the duel. "I'm getting rather bored now. I might as well finish things up here."

Ayami entered the tower through the window high above the ground floor. She peered down and saw the duel that was going on. "What is this?" She muttered quietly, so that no one could hear. She then saw Meo down there along with Lance and appeared shocked, "No way! What's he doing dueling!?"

"I summon Vorse Raider in attack mode!" Lance declared. A large beast-like humanoid with a large pole-axe appeared (ATK 1900). "Next I activate the Continuous Trap, Ultimate Offering! By paying 500 Life Points, I am allowed to Normal Summon a monster from my hand!"

(Lance: 4000 – 500 = 3500 LP)

He held up 2 monster cards though, "Of course, I can activate the effect again so that I can summon another monster! So I pay another 500 to add one more!"

(Lance: 3500 – 500 = 3000 LP)

Two new monsters appeared, Gil Garth (ATK 1800) and Drillago (ATK 1600). There were now four monsters on his field and Meo started to feel scared. He looked at each monster; Drillago spinning its drills like it was ready to skewer him, Vorse Raider raising his blade slightly as it let out a slight gleam to show how sharp it was, and Gil Garth holding its sword like it was ready to cut Meo. His body started to shake. "I'm done holding back on you. On my next turn I'm going to go all out. No more defenses for you, for they will be crushed instantly. So I think it would be appropriate to let your mother see you fall for the last time."

Lance snapped his fingers and the man closest to the cell opened the door and went inside. He dragged Eliza out of the cell for Meo. From above, Ayami appeared shocked by what was going on.

"Mama!" Meo looked stunned.

"M...Meo!" she tried to call to him, but the man had his arm wrapped around her neck.

"Dammit!" thought Ayami, "I can't get to them like this. Where the hell are you guys?"

"It's time for your final turn, boy!" said Lance, "Whatever you do though it will make no difference! You've failed to save your mother and that's something you should be ashamed of!"

Meo was about to cry, "No...I can't..." For a moment he didn't do anything but cry tears. He clamped his paws together in what appeared to be a prayer, which confused Lance. "Please...I don't want to lose her like with papa...please help me save her."

"Praying will get you no where." Lance said coldly.

Meo proceeded to draw his card. The card this time was Guardian Angel Kasket. "P…Papa's card."

-----------------

He remembered the time when he was really little. He was barely three when his father, who appeared to be an adult version of him, gave him the card. "Here you go. Now you have your own angel to protect you, just like he did for me."

-----------------

"Papa…" he muttered. He washed the tears from his eyes and proceeded with his turn. "I play Guardian Angel Kasket!" Instead of setting the monster like he has done the whole duel, he instead played it face-up. The monster was an angelic human in gold armor, baring a spear in his hands, and wearing a halo like wreath over its head (ATK 2600).

Meo and Eliza were mesmerized by this monster. Light seemed to shine from it in awe-inspiring brilliance. "It did exist after all." Eliza muttered, "He always said there was someone watching over him...this must have been it." Her eyes watered, "Oh, Giera..."

"Humph." Lance grunted as he appeared unimpressed by this new monster. "So you brought out that monster. Such high attack points for a Level 4 monster, however...I already got a glimpse of what it does. From that moment I picked it up I looked at every bit of the card, including its effect. I'm only going to tell you this, you cannot win with that monster, for any time it attacks me it will lose 1000 attack points during that battle. In other words, if it were to attack any monster I own, it would only be destroyed. Your last monster is great for a heavy defense, but as for offense it's nothing more than another 1600 attacking monster. Disappointing but true."

He proceeded to draw a card, "It's my turn now." He gazed at his new card and smiled, "As I said, nothing matters at this point for I have won. I equip Vorse Raider with United We Stand! This is an Ultra-Rare Spell card, when equipped to a monster it increases its attack and defense points by 800, for every face-up monster I control! Since there are four on my field, that amount adds up to 3200!" Vorse Raider emits an aura that connects to the other monsters, increasing his power (ATK 1900 + 3200 = ATK 5100).

Meo looked nervously at the newly powered monster. It appeared bigger than before and much scarier. "You did your best, but in the end you've failed. Of course I didn't expect much, from a kitten. Vorse Raider, attack!" Vorse Raider leapt into the air and prepared to slam down its poleaxe right through Kasket.

"I can't be afraid!" he thought, "I can't be afraid! I...I have my papa's card with me...he's protecting me even now!" For the moment he felt like he couldn't do it again, though he managed to muster up the courage to press the button under the Spell/Trap slot that Mirror Force was in. "I activate Mirror Force!" The card flipped up, causing a mirror-like barrier to surround him.

"What!?" exclaimed Lance, as he watched Vorse Raider slamming into the barrier with his weapon. After a bit of struggle he was launched backward and destroyed. This also caused beams of light to blast out of him, destroying all of Lance's remaining monsters. He looked stunned by what had happened. All his monsters were completely gone. "N...No way."

Ayami was surprised by Meo's play. It was her card that he used to destroy all of Lance's monsters and she was surprised that he even made such a move. "Amazing." She muttered quietly.

Meo looked relieved, "I did it. I really did it!"

Lance grunted, "I don't know where and how you got that card but, you still haven't won. From my hand I summon Granadora in attack mode!" A large green reptile like creature with many spikes on its body appeared (ATK 1900). "When this monster is Normal Summoned, I gain 1000 Life Points and if it gets destroyed and sent to the graveyard then I take 2000 points of damage! I end my turn!"

(Lance: 3000 + 1000 = 4000 LP)

He thought to himself, "He won't be able to touch me as long as I have a monster with at least 1600 attack points. If by chance I draw a monster with over 2600 attack points then I'll be able to defeat him with what I got left." In his hand were monsters with more attack points than his current monster; reaching no higher than 2200. They all had a Star Level of either five to six.

"It seems like that's the only kind of Wall monster he could come up with." thought Ayami, "But fortunately for him Meo's monster can't attack it since it will only lose out to it by 300 points. His monster just isn't the kind to be attacking with, only for defending. What can he possibly do?" She then realized something, "Wait of course!"

"This is it." thought Meo, looking at his deck for hope, "If I can't beat that monster now, I will lose mama." He turned his gaze at his monster hoping for guidance. "You always helped my father, and you even helped me. Please…just a little more." He slowly drew his card, this time being a Spell card. "This is..."

-----------------

He remembered from earlier in the day when Ayami was giving Meo her Mirror Force. He had thanked her for the card.

"You know, seeing as one of your cards has an ability where it loses attack points, I think this card would fit nicely." She pulled out another card from her deck and handed it to Meo, "It's called Anti-Reverse Sword. When equipped to a monster, it reverses any change done to a monster's attack and defense, so instead of having to attack with a weak offense you would have a really strong offense. If you ever decide to play Duel Monsters, definitely use it!"

-----------------

"That's right." Meo thought, "She did say that. Thank you, Ayami."

He proceeded with his turn, "I equip Guardian Angel Kasket with the Anti-Reverse Sword!" Kasket's spear was replaced with a long sword, with spiked blades that went up with the blade, and runes were all over it. "And to add to it I summon another monster! Tellus the Little Angel!" A small round angel in a shell appeared (ATK 500). "Guardian Angel Kasket, attack his monster!"

"There it is!" thought Ayami.

"Fool," thought Lance, "So what if he has a Spell card, it won't do anything as long as I have Granadora...wait a minute." He appeared concerned after realizing the card Meo played, "That card...he said it was Anti-Reverse Sword! I remember now, it's an Uncommon card but its effect can be really powerful. It can reverse the changes in attack and defense points. So when Guardian Angel Kasket attacks, it wouldn't lose 1000 attack points, it would gain them...and that would put it at 3600 which means..." He appeared frightened and thought, "It'll be enough to beat my monster!"

Kasket held its sword up in the air, the light from the sword emanating through his body (ATK 2600 + 1000 = ATK 3600), and then it began to fly down and slashed his sword right through Granadora. The resulting destruction caused rays of light to flash off the creature and hit Lance for damage. The explosion caused by the monster's destruction however engulfed Lance for even more damage due to Granadora's effect.

(Lance: (4000 – 1700) – 2000 = 300 LP)

"Tellus the Little Angel will attack you directly," yelled Meo, as his last monster flew toward Lance at top speed. Lance looked on with a shocked look on his face as the monster rammed into him, depleting his Life Points to zero.

(Lance: 300 – 500 = 0 LP)

The holograms disappeared and Meo was in shock over what has happened, "I did it...I won." His eyes started to water. He wiped his eyes and looked up toward Kasket who was still disappearing from the field, "Thank you, Kasket!"

Ayami clenched her fist and smiled. "Yes!" She cheered quietly.

Eliza started to cry tears of happiness, "Oh thank god!"

"Grr…" Lance appeared furious as he tossed aside his Duel Disk and picked up Meo by the neck. Eliza was surprised as Lance angrily yelled at Meo, "You dare make a fool out of me? You think that by stealing a couple rare cards makes you better than I!? Well, I'll show you what for!"

He slammed Meo down on the table and the man who was outside the tower came back into the room. He helped pull out Meo's left arm onto the table, with the Duel Disk still attached to him. Meo tried to get out but couldn't move.

Lance picked out a small axe from the weapon rack in the corner of the room, "Whether it be you or your father who stole those rare cards of yours, it don't matter to me. I don't want his son to one day be as conniving as he was so...I'll give you your just deserts!" He walked over to the table with the intent of cutting off Meo's arm.

"No!" Eliza cried out, but she was still held against her will.

He raised the axe up high and before he could slam it down a black bladed star hits the hilt of the blade, causing him to drop it. He turned toward where it came from and shouted, "Who dares to interrupt!?"

The person who did it leapt down from a window above them. It was Ayami, "It's over for you, Bandit Lemiuex! Let those people go and no one will have to die!"

"Ayami!" cried Meo.

"Don't underestimate me, girl!" said Lance harshly. The men from outside the tower began to pour into the room. There were so many inside that she was greatly outnumbered. "As you can see you are clearly outnumbered. I suggest you drop your weapons and surrender yourself to me. Otherwise these two will die."

Ayami smirked as she placed her hands up in the air, "Alright, you win...Just kidding!" From one hand she dropped a smoke bomb. Touching the ground it exploded and filled the room with smoke.

"What the!?" Lance coughed as the smoked was blinding everyone in the room. He heard the sound of his men being struck down by someone and when the smoke finally cleared he sees that the room was filled with ninja. His men were on the ground unconscious after being attacked by them. Meo and Ayami were safe together with the ninja.

"Now as I said before, come quietly and no one will have to die."

"You..." Lance grunted and fell to his knees in defeat, "Dammit!"

-----------------

Lance and all his men were tied by their wrists outside of the tower, in a long line with ninja keeping watch over them. Ayami instructed them, "Alright, now I'm going to accompany you in turning these guys into the capital." She turned to the other group instructed them as well, "I want you guys to make sure all stolen goods are returned to their proper owners, got that?!"

"Oie!"

Meo and Eliza were together on the tower steps. Meo was holding his deck in his paws and the two of them were looking at his Guardian Angel Kasket card. Ayami walked over to them and asked, "You two alright?"

"Yes. Thank you ever so much." said Eliza gratefully.

Ayami smiled, "Not a problem. After I turn these guys in I'll see about getting you an extension on paying off your tax for the month, as for everyone else who was robbed. I know it won't be much but it's the least we can do for all the trouble he caused by pretending to be someone from the kingdom."

Ayami turned to leave but Meo spoke up, "Um...Ayami." She turned back around. "I um...want to thank you, for everything. If it weren't for the cards you gave me I wouldn't have been able to save mama."

She didn't know what to say for a moment, but she simply smiled, "Hey, you were pretty amazing though. I was able to catch your duel mid-way. I couldn't just barge in without my boys backing up, since you can't just go in by yourself." Meo looked embarrassed since he did that earlier.

"Maybe if you applied yourself you could make a great duelist one day. I mean hey, we don't generally get any Beastian duelists here in the capital, it'd be a nice change in scenery for once."

"And that's the other thing. I...I was wondering if...you could teach me..."

"Sure I can." Meo's face lit up cheerfully as she added, "As soon as I finish things on my end, I'll come back and teach you all about the fine art of Duel Monsters. Until then you just keep yourself safe, okay?" She waved good bye as she walked away with the rest of her men.

Meo watched her leave and thought, "A great duelist...I wonder what that would be like."

-----------------

Inside the ruin where Meo had visited before, a stranger was looking at the golden chest that Meo had previously opened. The stranger appeared to be human, was wearing some sort of white garb underneath his cloak, and sporting a long sword. He held up a card in his hand, blanketed by the shadows of the room, and it emitted a red aura.

"So it's no longer here," he muttered. He turned around as if to leave the room, "No matter, it will be found eventually. The Dark King won't be kept waiting for long." The silhouette of a tall, horned being lingered behind him.

To Be Continued...

Fake Card List:

Guardian Angel Kasket (Light)

****

Fairy/Effect

When this monster declares an attack, decrease its Atk by 1000 until the end of the Damage Step.

ATK 2600 DEF 0

Anti-Reverse Sword

Equip Spell Card

When the equipped monster's Atk or Def would be decreased by a card's effect, increase it by that amount instead. When the equipped monster's Atk or Def would be increased by a card's effect, decrease it by that amount instead.


	2. Howling Lycanthrope! The Way of Dueling

(A/N: Looks like updates depend on how much crap goes on in the week. I'm in the final few classes of the semester and I really don't want to f*** them up.)

-----------------

**Chapter 2: Howling Lycanthrope! The Way of Dueling**

-----------------

It was three days later and the sun was rising over the trees. It was another beautiful morning, the birds were chirping and the sound of crickets could be heard in the fields.

The sunlight was peeking through the window of Meo's room. Its light began to bathe the room as Meo was woken up by the ray of light that hit him. He moaned and groaned as he started to slowly move out of bed. As his feet hit the floor he started to stretch his arms, like a cat would do after waking up from a nap. He then stretched his legs for a moment before gazing at the Guardian Angel Kasket card, which was resting on the stand on top of his drawer.

"Good morning, Kasket."

-----------------

"Morning, Meo!" said Eliza. She was packing some fruit and vegetables into her basket. She had been growing fruits and vegetables in her garden to sell to the local market. It was the only way to acquire any money to keep food on the table and to pay taxes.

"Morning, mama!" Meo walked up to a table and sat in a chair. There was a small tuna sandwich on the tuna. He picked it up and took a bite out of it. He was happily chewing away like a cat eating a raw fish. "So do you think Ayami will come back today?"

Eliza sighed heavily and she appeared doubtful, "I'm honestly not sure. I'm sure we would have heard from her by now if she was planning on coming back. Besides, she promised that she would get us an extension on our tax payment." She gazed at a large sack of money on the kitchen counter, "I've just barely been able to make the amount for this month. At the rate this is going it'll likely be even harder to keep up."

Meo appeared concerned and wondered if she was right. Just then there was a knock on the door. "It must be here!" Meo excitingly left his chair and ran to the door.

"Meo! That might be the tax collector. Don't get your hopes up."

He opened the door and there was Ayami. "Hiya!" She said cheerfully. She was carrying a long pink bag over her shoulder.

"Ayami!" Meo cheered happily.

"Y...you." Eliza was surprised. She had not expect Ayami to come back at all. "You came back afterall."

"Yep!" Ayami walked up to her and presented a piece of paper, "We took care of the criminals and got everyone who had their money stolen a week's extension in tax payment." She handed the paper to Eliza, who started reading it, "Of course I wanted to personally give you your extension in person. After all, I did say I was going to come back and teach your son how to be a better duelist."

Eliza had finished reading and nodded, "Thank you. We really appriciate this."

"Oh and by the way, would you mind if I talked to you in private? It concerns your son's training."

"Meo, could you go wait in your room?"

Meo nodded and walked into his room. He pressed his ear against the door and listened to the conversation they were having. He could barely hear anything and he wondered what they were talking about.

-----------------

"You want him to take him to the human village?" Eliza exclaimed. She was surprised that Ayami was bringing up the idea involving the human village. She had always been to the beastian village that she had never gone to the human village in a long time.

"Of course." Ayami explained, "You see, humans are more into the game of Duel Monsters than beastian are. It's incredibly rare to see one dueling and they almost always lose interest, and that's just from a city perspective. Out here you would never see one since their villages never carry any cards. With human villages though there's a good chance that some of the people have duel decks, so my idea is that I can take him there and have him duel with kids his age."

Eliza turned away to put more food into her basket. "I just have some concerns about it. Meo isn't very good with people he doesn't know, even when I take him to the beastian village he feels uncomfortable being around others."

"Well I have heard most beastian children have trouble being around other types of beastian that isn't their species. I'm not sure if it's something due to animal instinct or what, though that's why if he learns to get along with a group of human children, maybe he'll warm up to the idea of being around beastian children. If he's going to be dueling he needs to be able to get used to being around people, so I'd be helping him do that and be able to be with people."

Eliza appeared concerned and looked down slightly toward the floor. She had no clue on how to reply.

"I mean if you really don't like the idea of having him going out there then that's fine too. I can still teach him here if that will help you out, but I really recommend letting him out more. I guarantee I can help get him more used to people. He seems to like me a lot after all, right?"

Eliza looked up at Ayami's smiling face. Her face was so innocent and honest looking. She thought about it for a moment and then she nodded slightly, "Okay. I'll allow you to take him to the human village, but you need to be back before nightfall."

"Great! You won't regret it."

"I trust you enough that you will take care of him." said Eliza, as she picked up her basket and walked toward the door, "Just please remember what I said."

Ayami nodded and Eliza left the shack.

-----------------

Meo was still pressing his ear against the door. He heard someone approaching and stepped away as the door swung open.

Ayami was on the other side of the door as she happily said, "Alright, shall we begin?"

-----------------

The two were sitting in the middle of the room. Meo had his deck next to him and Ayami had her bag sitting right beside her. "Okay, the first thing I'll do is see how much you know on the general card basics." She dug into her bag and pulled out a deck of cards. She held up a card and asked, "Tell me, what kind of card is this?"

Meo examined the card and replied, "A monster?"

"Right!" Ayami held up another card from her deck, "And this?"

"A Spell?"

"Good job." Ayami held up another card like before, "And this?"

Meo examined the card but had trouble figuring out what it was. It had the image of a monster but the coating was purple like a Trap card would be. He had never seen something like this before. A card with the image of a monster and the color coating of a Trap card was new to him. He thought about it for a moment and then blurted out, "Um...Trap?"

She shook her head, "Nope. This is a monster."

"But, it's colored purple like a Trap card!"

"Not quite." she explained. She held up a Trap card and held the two cards close together, "This monster is actually a Fusion monster. You can tell by the fact that it's a deeper shade of purple than that of a Trap card, which almost looks like a pinkish color than purple."

Meo was confused as he had never heard of a Fusion monster before. "What's a Fusion monster then?"

"Well you know how there are Normal monsters and Effect monsters? Well Fusion monsters are another type of monster that can only be summoned through certain cards." She laid down a Normal monster and an Effect monster on the floor and continued, "As you can see, Normal monsters are colored Yellow while Effect monsters are colored orange. Both these monsters are summoned normally through the standards of Normal Summon, Advance Summon, or Special Summon if the cards say they can that way."

"Ohh..."

"But Fusion monsters are different." She laid down the Fusion monster next to the Effect monster, "These monsters require other monsters to summon them. The basic method of this is the use of a card called Polymerization. Playing it, you can send monster cards from your field or hand that are listed on the Fusion monster and then Fusion Summoning it to the field. Look closely at the text and you can see the requirements for the monster."

She pointed her finger at the card's text and Meo looked at the card. "I see. So only those monsters can bring it out?"

"Most of the time. But sometimes a Fusion monster can be summoned with Polymerization. I mean some cards require you to just send cards directly from the field to the graveyard to bring them out. Others require a much different method. Most can be brought out with cards besides Polymerization. Much like Effect monsters there are cards that require different conditions to be summoned. Think of it like that."

Meo scratched his head, "Hmmm...it just seems so much."

Ayami picked up the cards and started to put them away as she continued, "Well we'll go more in depth as we start getting you more used to a much larger variety of cards. Today I'm just going to get you started in creating a simple deck and dueling with other people. For that, I bought this." She reached into her bag and pulled out a small red box with the picture of a dragon on it, "Behold, the Starter Deck!"

He took the box from her and started to sniff it. "Starter Deck?"

"Yep. Starter Decks are perfect for duelists who are starting out. Whether it means a basic deck for them to start with, or as a means of adding on cards to a deck you already have. Since you already have a deck we could take the cards that are in here and add it to your own." She grabbed the box back and opened it up. She then took the deck out and handed it to him, "Take a look! You'll find all sorts of cards to use, many strong ones!"

He shuffled through the deck of cards, one card at a time. He was looking at cards like Celtic Guardian, Ancient Elf, Trap Hole, and De-Spell. His face had shown concern after looking through the whole deck, "There weren't any angels in there though."

"Well you can't expect a deck to run solely on just one type of monster. I mean you could, but as a starting deck you need different types of monsters with different strengths and abilities if you want it to work right. If you want to be a better duelist you're going to have to take a few of your own monsters out and swap in some new ones."

"But isn't it a duelist's choice on what they want to play?"

Ayami was caught off guard by that question. She had heard it before but was surprise to hear it from him, "Where'd you learn that?"

Meo got up and ran into the kitchen to pick up a book. He returned to the room and presented the book to her, "From this."

She took it and looked at the front cover, "The Philosophy of Dueling by Dr. Lucinde? This book is practically a rare collectible, where did you get it?"

"My father said he found it in a ruin years ago."

"A ruin huh?" Ayami stared at the book and pondered for a moment. She then smiled and patted Meo's head, "Well I guess it's fine. I actually brought my own to lend to you, but this makes it easier. And you're right, it is a duelist's choice to play what they want, so if you really want to run a deck with your favorite type of monster then okay." She placed the book on the floor and picked up Meo's deck, "But you still need to improvise and include the Spell and Trap cards. I want you to look through your deck and see which cards you want to take out and we'll swap them with some of the more useful cards we have here. Okay?"

Meo nodded, "Okay."

"Also, promise me you'll read this book everyday as part of your study regimene."

"Okay but...a lot of the words I don't understand."

"That's okay, we'll work on that later. For now let's put together your deck and go over the basic rules of deck construction."

The two began to work together in constructing the deck while Ayami explained what needed to be said.

-----------------

"Alright! We're all set!" Ayami held up Meo's deck proudly before handing it to him. He started to look through it as she said, "Now your deck is completely playable. You have all the basic support cards needed to be able to win effectively."

After looking through the whole deck, Meo turned to Ayami and bowed, "Thank you so much."

"Oh we're not done yet." said Ayami as she got up, "The road to becoming a great duelist begins as soon as you find someone to face off against. Which is why we're going to the local human village to find you some duelists."

Meo gulped, "Human village?"

"Yeah! I mean as a duelist you're going to have to face other people, it's not like you can duel yourself. The only way to improve is to play against others your level and I'm sure there's some children there who play the game."

Meo shivered at the thought of being around people. "Y...you won't leave me there alone, are you?"

"Of course not! I'll keep an eye on you, I promise. Now let's put away your extra cards and get going."

He nodded as he picked up his cards and proceeded to place them back into the drawer. Ayami then noticed something gleam from inside the drawer. "Hey...what's that?" She came in closer just before Meo was about to close the drawer, "May I see?"

"I suppose you can. Just don't tell mama."

Ayami pulled out the Gold-plated Duel Disk that Meo found the other day. It was in good condition and there was no dust or dirt on it. "Nice Duel Disk. Where'd you find it?"

"In a ruin."

"Wow...I wonder if it still works." She placed it on her arm and it attached itself to her. It made a humming sound as it turned on. Ayami appeared thrilled, "Cool! This thing must be over thousands of years old and it still functions! You know Duel Disks are expensive to own, so to have one like this and in perfect working order is just so awesome! You're one really lucky kitten!"

Meo blushed, "T...thank you."

Ayami deactivated the Duel Disk and removed it from her arm. She then gave it to Meo and said, "I know what we can do. Why don't we take it with us and later I'll show you how to duel using a Duel Disk? I happen to have brought mine with me so we could practice after we get you with some children, okay?"

"Hmm..." thought Meo. He was unsure if this was a good idea or not, like if it will end badly or not. "Well if you say so..."

"Great! Let's get going!" Meo watched as Ayami left the room. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea but he had to say something to her.

-----------------

Later that day they arrived at the human village. It was a pretty lazy day in the village. Not many people were roaming around the open areas between homes and shops, and others were hanging around talking with each other. It was quite green around the village and appeared well taken cared of. There was a wooden fence that surrounded the entire village.

"Well here we are!" Ayami pointed out as she and Meo walked up to the front entrance of the village. She patted Meo and said, "Now just keep close to me if you're feeling scared, you don't have to be though."

She offered her hand to him and he grabbed it, "Mm."

They walked into the village together. As they passed a nearby shop, the man at the counter who was cleaning his wares noticed the two. He saw Meo and had a sign of realization on his face. He waved and called out to them, "Hey! If it isn't Meo! Hi there!"

Meo was slightly startled and hid behind Ayami, appearing frightened.

"Heh heh, it's been awhile! Haven't seen you in years! How's your mother doing, is she alright!? Whatcha doing with a young lady like her, huh!?"

Ayami spoke up on Meo's behalf, "Oh she's fine I'm sure. I'm just watching him for her and I was going to take him to see the children of this village. You know where they'd be?"

"Sure! Just keep heading down the path and you'll eventually find their little play-area! You can't miss it!"

"Thanks!" Ayami proceeded to walk that way with Meo following close behind.

The man chuckled and commented, "Seven years and you almost look like your father."

-----------------

The two arrive at a dirt clearing a little ways outside the village. There was a slide nearby and there was a swing hanging from a small tree that was nearby. In the center of the area was a wooden stump big enough to act as a table. In the area there were children running around and playing with each other. Gathered at the stump two little boys were playing Duel Monsters.

One little boy with red hair placed a monster card on the stump and declared, "I'm about to blow your little weakling away! I summon Serpent Marauder in attack mode!"

The other little boy with brown hair moved another card on his side to his graveyard and then proceeded to draw a card. He smiled and said, "Sorry to disappoint you, but it's time you got to meet my new little friend, Koumori Dragon!"

"Ah man!" The red-head appeared shocked as he realized his monster is way weaker than his opponent's monster. "I can't beat that now!"

Ayami and Meo watched them from a distance. Meo was looking nervous from seeing the children that were here. He was worried about what would happen if he lets them know he is there.

"Those two look like the kind of duelists you could be around with. Let's go get you acquainted." She tugged on Meo's arm, who started to resist from going over but he was soon pulled closer to the children much to is dismay.

The children stopped what they were doing as they saw the two approaching. Their eyes were fixated on Meo as they had never seen anyone like him before. At least they never seen anyone like him up close before. They all started talking amongst themselves.

"What is that?"

"Is that a cat?"

"But it's standing on its legs..."

"Can it be for real?"

Ayami took a step up to them and said, "Kids, I'd like you to meet a little friend of mine. Meo!" As she motioned her hands in introducing him to them, he hid behind her legs. "Don't be shy, come on out and say hello."

She pushed him out in front for the kids to see. His body was shaking slightly from being around everyone. He slowly started to raise his shaking paw and stuttered, "H...hi."

The kids started to gather around him and examine him. This was the first time they had laid eyes on a beastian before and didn't know what to think. They muttered to one another on what they see.

"He really does look like a cat."

"His tail is real too!" said one kid who tugged slightly on Meo's tail.

"I wonder what he eats."

The brown haired boy smugged, "Well what does he do? I mean he can't be like us can he? He doesn't even look like a regular human being!"

Meo frowned and looked downward. Ayami stepped up and said, "Now now, just because he doesn't look like a human doesn't mean he's not the same as you. He's exactly like you, a kid, and from the looks of things a duelist too."

"No way. Him a duelist?"

"Yep." Ayami nodded, "Why he even has his own deck and Duel Disk, take a look."

The kids noticed that Meo was wearing his Gold-plated Duel Disk on his left arm. It gleamed in front of their eyes as they appeared fascinated by the shiny Duel Disk. Not only was it coated in gold but this was the first time they have seen a Duel Disk.

"Okay so he has a Duel Disk." The boy continued, "But can he duel?"

"Why don't we find out?" Ayami replied, "Meo, show him what you got."

Meo nodded slightly, thinking that something bad would happen if he did. He and the boy sat across from each other at the stump and placed their decks on top. They both drew five cards and started their duel.

"Right, I go first!" The boy drew his card and declared, "I summon the Koumori Dragon! It has 1500 attack points so try to beat that!"

Meo drew his card. He was uncertain with what to do but he proceeded with his turn, "I summon Guardian Angel Kasket."

As he placed it on the table, the children around him were in awe over seeing such a rare-looking card.

"2600 attack points!?" The boy exclaimed, "And this is Level 4, where'd you get this?"

"It was a present." Meo replied simply. The other children were still in awe as he continued, "It loses 1000 attack points when it attacks though."

One of the other kids calculated the result with his fingers, "So that would make it...1600 attack points right?"

The red-head concluded, "That pretty much makes his monster 100 points stronger than yours."

The brown-head placed his Koumori Dragon into his graveyard and commented, "Interesting. You seem to have cards that don't even come from around here. You might very well be my biggest rival yet!"

Meo seemed please by that comment as the brown-head appeared rather disappointed, "Hey, I thought you and I were rivals!?"

"You can be, if you can keep up with us that is!"

The other kids giggle on the two arguing. Even Meo gets into laughing with them.

The red-head draws a card and says, "Well I'll find a way around that wall monster of yours." He set a monster face-down as their game continued.

Ayami was rather satisfied with how things were going as she laid her back aside the tree nearby. She happily watched them duel and muttered, "There we go, we're making progress now." She watched Meo actually smiling and having fun. The children were liking him and enjoying his company. It seemed like a really fun time for everyone.

"Woah man! Is that for real!?"

Ayami heard someone talking and looked toward the direction of the voice. Not too far from her there was a small group of teenage boys that were with one with short-cut brown hair and wearing a blue and white Duel Disk.

The boy was showing off his Duel Disk by holding it up with his arm, "You bet! Feast your eyes on my newly acquired Duel Disk!"

"Damn Gabe, you sure are lucky!" one of the teenagers commented. They were all in awe over the sight of the Duel Disk that their friend was wearing. It seemed like a rare sight to them for a Duel Disk to be around these parts. "How'd you afford such a thing anyway, I heard only the rich folk in Arcum could afford them!"

Gabe snickered and answered, "Let's just say I know a guy who knows a guy who knows this merchant in Muirenn who sells Duel Disks at really low costs. I got mine at like a third of the normal cost of a standard model Duel Disk, including a few other extras that are good for my deck!"

The boys were all wowed from those words. "Does it work?"

"Does it work? It wouldn't be a Duel Disk if it didn't work, watch!" He inserted his Deck into his Duel Disk, causing it to activate.

Ayami watched them with suspiscion, "Now what could they be up to?"

Gabe drew a card and snickered, "Watch what happens when I place something like Shadow Specter on the Duel Disk." He placed the card on the Duel Disk, which caused purple smoke to surround the children.

The children appeared frightened at first and then an ominous white skull appeared in front of them. It began to chatter its teeth which caused them to scream. Meo was also frightened by the appearance of the skull. Gabe and his friends began to laugh at them.

"Hey!" Ayami shouted at Gabe and his friends and stormed over to them, "Just what do you think you're doing!?"

"Chill out lady, I was only showing off my new Duel Disk. Not like I'm hurting anyone."

"Don't you know that out here people aren't as aware of the kind of technology the University produces!?" Ayami angerly scolded them, "They might think the holograms you're making are real and it could lead to trouble!"

"I'm not worried about that. After all it does lead to a good scare."

"Well it didn't work completely." Ayami pointed toward Meo as the group was confused by what she meant. They were surprised to see Meo reaching through the Skull Specter with his paw.

He looked at his paw as he tried swatting at the Skull Scepter, "So it is true. The holograms aren't real."

Soon the other children realize this and try to touch the monster as well. Gabe and his friends were in shock over what was happening, they weren't expecting the children to catch onto their joke so quickly. "Even a cat is smarter than you." Ayami remarked.

Gabe's expression of annoyance was quickly changed to a more calm one as he and his friends approached Meo and his friends. "You know I haven't seen someone like you around here before." said Gabe. He removed the card from his Duel Disk which caused the monster to disappear. "I thought beastian liked hanging out in their own villages, so what's a kid like you doing here?"

"I um..." Meo tried to reply.

"I brought him here because I'm trying to teach him how to become a better duelist." said Ayami as she walked over to them, "I figured since there were no other beastian duelists that I know of around here I'd have him duel with these kids just so he can get used to dueling with other people."

Gabe looked back and forth between her and Meo, "Him? Be a duelist? Seriously?" He started to laugh and his friends started laughing too.

"Why of course. He even has a deck and Duel Disk." She pointed at the Duel Disk and Gabe was surprised.

"Wha?"

"And he found that all by himself, in a ruin no less. His deck is also constructed from cards he found in a ruin, so he pretty much got everything for free."

There was disbelief on Gabe's face. He had to pay for his deck and Duel Disk. He felt that the idea of a kid with a golden Duel Disk and free deck was better than him having to pay for everything.

"Wow, and you had to pay for your stuff." one of his friends commented.

"Humph." Gabe grunted, "Well okay, so he has a deck and Duel Disk. But can he duel?"

"Oh can he duel!" Ayami retorted, "Why I bet he could beat you with no trouble at all! How about you try dueling him?"

"Heh. Sounds fun actually. I wanted to give this baby a test duel anyway. Alright you're on!"

Meo looked toward Ayami nervously and asked, "Ayami, you sure this is a good idea?"

Ayami knelled down and replied, her voice was filled with confidence, "Of course! You see duelists who come from villages like these have decks with weak cards. They don't have as much access to the kind of cards found in the cities as we do. Plus if guys like him never go to the capital or visit shops with different booster packs, the only threat you would have are the monsters that need Advance Summons. Trust me, they're on the same level as you and the kids, so give it a shot!"

Meo gulped and stared at Gabe. "Alright." The kids appeared excited over what would happen.

-----------------

Both Meo and Gabe were standing across from each other. On one side Gabe's friends were supporting their friend while on the other were Meo's friends, supporting him.

"Let's get started then!" Gabe inserted his deck into his Duel Disk which caused it to activate. Meo inserted his deck into his Duel Disk which caused it to activate as well.

"You can do it Meo!" Ayami cheered from the side.

Both Meo and Gabe shouted, "DUEL!" and the duel began.

(Gabe: 4000 LP/Meo: 4000 LP)

"I'll take the first move!" Gabe declared as he drew his card. "I'll start by summoning Shadow Specter in attack mode!" A puff of purple smoked appeared and a small white skulled appeared in it (ATK 500). "That ends my turn!"

"Go on Meo!" Ayami cheered, "This guy has nothing on you! Show him your all!" The children cheered as well.

"My turn then!" Meo drew his card and examined his hand. One of the cards in his hand was Trap Hole, which was one of the new cards he added into his deck. He proceeded to set the card, "I set this face-down. Then I summon Bio-Mage in attack mode!" A tall bionic angel appeared (ATK 1150) as Meo declared, "Attack Shadow Specter!" Bio-Mage raised his arms and unleashed a purple wave of energy at Shadow Specter, destroying it.  
(Gabe: 4000 LP - 650 = 3350 LP)

The children cheered with excitement as Ayami pumped her arm up, "Awesome! Way to go!"

"I end my turn." Meo finished his turn.

"Humph." Gabe was undaunghted by that move, "Not a big deal really. My turn anyway." He drew his card and examined his hand. He seemed disappointed like the card he wanted didn't come. He grabbed a different card and set it, "I'll set this monster face-down. I end my turn."

"He's playing defensively now." thought Meo, "That means he has no monsters strong enough to defeat mine! It's just like before." He recalled the first time he dueled where he had to defend himself constantly with face-down monsters. "I can actually win this easily!"

"This kid has no idea the kind of trouble he's in for." thought Gabe, looking at a particular card in his hand, "I just need to draw the one card that can call out my ace monster, and it will all be over for him."

Meo proceeded with his turn, "It's my turn then!" He drew his card and it was Guardian Angel Kasket. He appeared very excited over drawing it, "Papa's card! Now I know I'll win for sure!" He happily took the card and placed it on the Duel Disk, "I summon Guardian Angel Kasket in attack mode!" Kasket appeared on the field in the same manner as when it first appeared (ATK 2600).

"2600!?" Gabe was in shock over seeing a monster with that much attack points. "Is that for real!?" His friends were also in shock over such a rare card.

"Guardian Angel Kasket will attack your face-down monster!" Kasket flew up into the air and prepared to attack the unknown monster.

"Not good." thought Gabe and scowled "A monster like that will shred up my defense rather quickly!" As Kasket threw his spear down, his attack points started to drop (ATK 2600 - 1000 = ATK 1600) just as the monster is revealed to be Aqua Madoor (DEF 2000). "What the!?" Gabe exclaimed as Aqua Madoor raised his hand and a large tidal wave appeared to block the attack.  
(Meo: 4000 LP - 400 = 3600 LP)

"I see." Gabe realized in thought, "His monster loses 1000 attack points whenever it attacks, so all it really is is just a defensive wall monster that has to be in attack mode. I gotta say that with the right cards it might actually be a pretty big threat. However..."

Meo appeared disappointed with that move, "No...I was sure that would work."

Ayami shook her head, "You can't always expect the monster to have low defense like that. Plus it might have a special ability! Don't be so reckless in your attacks!"

"But I..."

"She's right you know!" Gabe shouted, "I will admit your monster is impressive, but it doesn't have enough attack points to topple my monster in battle. All you can do is watch as I get ready for the real battle!"

Meo scowled, "I end my turn."

"It's my turn then!" Gabe drew his card. He smiled as the card he drew was the one he had hoped for. "Now pay attention kid, because I'm about to rock your world with a card that many of you have never seen before. It's a monster that only I have and it's as rare as it gets!"

Ayami was confused, "What could he be talking about?"

"First things first..." Gabe picked up a card from his hand and placed it into his Duel Disk, "I activate the Ritual Spell Advanced Ritual Art!" A large stone slab with a green rune appeared in front of him.

"No way!" Ayami exclaimed, "It can't be!"

Meo turned to Ayami and asked, "What's a Ritual Spell?"

"A Ritual Spell is used to Ritual Summon Ritual Monsters. These monsters can only be summoned by offering monsters from your field and hand that have equal or higher Star Level than the target monster."

"That's correct." Gabe stated, "But of course they aren't just restricted to their own Ritual Spells. Mine can bring out any Ritual Monster in my hand by sending Normal Monsters from my deck whose levels equal that to my monster! The monster I choose is a Level 6 monster, so I choose to send six Level 1 monsters from my deck to the graveyard!" He took his deck out and fanned it out in front of him. He selected 6 cards and placed them into his Graveyard.

The rune emitted a large green aura as Gabe declared, "With that I Ritual Summon my best monster, Lycanthrope!" Everyone watched in awe as a large humanoid wolf emerged from the aura. It was wearing blue shorts and had wires coming from its body. It howled toward the sky as it made a threatening staunce (ATK 2400).

"No way...that's impossible!" thought Ayami, "How could this guy be able to afford a Duel Disk and a card like that? That monster could only be found in packs sold within the capital, they would never sell those outside it. Even a single would cost as much as two booster packs if he got it out here!"

"I activate a Trap card!" Meo responded, "Trap Hole!" The card flipped up before shattering into pieces. "What?"

"Didn't you know that Ritual Summons are the same as Special Summons? Trap Hole only works for Normal Summons or Flip Summons. You just wasted a card on a misplay. Now Lycanthrope, attack!" Gabe declared as Lycanthrope sliced through Bio-Mage at unbelieveable speeds. Meo watched as his monster was torn in two like it was nothing at all. Then Lycanthrope stared at Meo like it was going to attack him next and then sliced him with his claws. Meo cried out from being hit.  
(Meo: 3600 LP - 2650 = 950 LP)

The children were shocked by the devestating move that Lycanthrope had done. Meo had a few tears in his eyes as he wondered, "Why did that..."

Gabe's friends cheered behind him after the play he had done.

"Heh." Gabe chuckled, "My monster has a special ability. When inflicts Battle Damage to the opponent, you take 200 points of damage for every Normal Monster in my graveyard. Since I had 7 Normal Monsters in the graveyard, that made out to be 1400!"

"Of course! With the way his deck is set up his Lycanthrope is always guaranteed to have over 1000 points of Effect Damage." Ayami pondered, "Just through the Ritual Summon he performed he was able to use 6 monsters which make for 1200 damage. Plus luring his opponent out with a weaker monster and then making it seem like his defending monster was another weak monster that can be killed, it sets him up for Lycanthrope to deliver a high amount of damage! I underestimated him, Meo might be in trouble afterall. Unless..."

"I end my turn! Things are getting interesting kid! How do you plan on getting out of this one?"

Ayami began to pump her fists into the air and cheered, "Come on Meo, you can still win! You got plenty of cards in your deck that can beat that thing!"

"That's right." Meo thought as he looked at this deck, "I do have plenty of cards that could beat his monster. I just need to draw them. But if he gets a card that could defeat my monster, it's all over."

He proceeded to draw his card, "It's my turn!" The card was Anti-Reverse Sword. "Yes! I now equip my monster with the Anti-Reverse Sword Spell card! Now any change to my monster's attack or defense points are reversed, so an increase would be decreased and vice versa!" The spear that Kasket was holding changed into the sword as Meo declared, "Guardian Angel Kasket will attack Lycanthrope!"

"Tch." Gabe grunted. He appeared slightly surprised by how Meo's play. He watched as Kasket flew up into the air and received an increase in power (ATK 2600 + 1000 = ATK 3600). It then flew down and sliced through Lycanthrope with the sword. Lycanthrope howled in pain as it split in two before shattering into bits.  
(Gabe: 3350 LP - 1200 = 2150 LP)

Ayami and the children cheered excitingly as Kasket returned to Meo's field (ATK 2600).

"I did it." thought Meo, he appeared very excited by his last move. It was just like the last time when he won the duel with the same play. "With this I have the duel won!"

Gabe snickered as he drew his card. His smile confused Meo like if there was something he didn't know about. "I gotta hand it to you, I wasn't expecting my best monster to go down like that. However, that attack you made was all in vain. You want to know why that is? It's because unlike you, I happen to have an extremely rare card in my hand." He held up the card he was preferring to and continued, "This card will spell the beginning of the end for you."

Ayami appeared concerned by his words, "What's he talking about?"

"I activate, Monster Reborn!"

"What'd he say!?"

Gabe inserted the card into his Duel Disk and the card appeared on the field for everyone to see. The card really was Monster Reborn. "This Spell lets me Special Summon any monster from either graveyard to my field. Since Lycanthrope was successfully Ritual Summoned before I can now bring him back to the field!" A large blue cross appeared above a spot on the field where Lycanthrope had fallen. The cross emitted a blue pillar of light down onto the ground as Lycanthrope dug its way out of the ground and back onto the field (ATK 2400).

Meo's eyes widen in horror, "N...no way."

"And now I equip my monster with Mystical Moon!" A large moon appeared in the sky above Lycanthrope as Gabe explained, "When equipped to a Beast-Warrior type monster, this card increases that monster's attack and defense by 300!" Lycanthrope howled up at the moon and received power (ATK 2400 + 300 = ATK 2700). "It's over. Lycanthrope, attack!"

Lycanthrope rushed forward to Kasket and sliced through him with its sharp claws. Meo watched in utter shock as Kasket is destroyed right in front of him. He had not seen Lycanthrope appear in front of him and as he did it attacked him with his claws. He cried out like he was in pain and his Life Points dropped.  
(Meo: 950 LP - 1500 = 0 LP)

"Meo!" Ayami cried out as she and the children ran to him.

Meo had fallen to his knees in defeat. He had just lost for the very first time in his life and was like a sudden blow to him when his own cherished monster was destroyed in front of him. His eyes watered like he was going to cry.

"There there, it's okay." Ayami comforted him.

"Yeah, you did alright for a beastian." Gabe walked over to them, his friends not too far behind. His face was a rather friendly one and wasn't like that to be mean. "I certainly never expected you to destroy my best monster, so that itself is an accomplishment. Though I think you're still a few years too young to be challenging people like me. My advice is get better cards and maybe one day you'll be as good as I am. After all, cards make the duelist."

He turned around and walked toward his friends as Meo's friends gather around him to comfort him. Ayami however stood up and called them out, "Wait a minute!" They turned back to her as she continued, "I know you mean well and all, but there's something I don't get."

"What do you mean?"

"You said cards make the duelist, right? Well tell me, what kind of cards do you mean? Strong cards, weak cards, cards that you would find to be your favorite? Do they define what kind of duelist you are even if they happen to be different in your eyes?"

Her words sunk into Gabe's mind like if she was lecturing him about dueling philosophy. He then gave a response, "Well of course it's obvious. Strong cards make the duelist. You can only get the best results from those. Like me, I had nothing but crappy cards. But even they have purpose for my stronger ones. I still use weak cards to give power to my strong ones."

"Is that so?" Ayami gave a slight smile, "Even if those cards happen to of been tainted?"

Gabe appeared confused by what she meant. She then pulled out her bag that she had before and reached inside to pull out a pink-coated Duel Disk. It was like the color of sakura petals. She attached it to her arm and inserted her deck into it, causing it to activate.

"Check it out! She's got a Duel Disk too!" said one of Gabe's friends, who was surprised by what he had seen.

Meo's friends were in awe by what they were seeing. They weren't expecting Ayami to have a Duel Disk as well. Even Meo was surprised by Ayami's sudden will to step up and challenge them like that.

"I happen to come from Arcum, which makes me a city duelist. Village folk like yourself shouldn't have as much access to the kind of cards that can be easily acquired in the city. Whether you got lucky or had some kind of illegal help, I will be the one to judge. So how about it, would you like to face someone more of a challenge?"

"Hmm..." Gabe pondered. "What's in it for me?"

"Well...if you win, I'll go out with you for a day. I though don't need anything for winning, I just want to confirm something through this duel. And, I want to expand on your notion on cards making the duelist. You were on track but I think a proper demonstration is in order." Her eyes glanced toward Meo like she was directing to him about this. He saw her eyes and knew she was going to teach him something and not just Gabe.

"Is that all?" Gabe grinned, "Alright, you got yourself a duel!" He pressed a button on his Duel Disk which caused it to shuffle his deck. "Get ready!"

"Oh I am!" Ayami drew her five cards.

"DUEL!" They both yelled and the duel began.

(Gabe: 4000 LP/Ayami: 4000 LP)

"I take first move." Gabe declared as he drew his card. "I summon Shadow Specter in attack mode!" His Shadow Specter monster appeared (ATK 500) and he finished, "That ends my turn."

He looked at his hand and saw that he already had Lycanthrope and Advanced Ritual Art in his hand. "Now come and attack me." he thought to himself, "I have a nasty surprise in store for you."

"Doing the same thing you did last duel, eh?" Ayami smiled confidently, "Alright, I'll play along. My turn now!" She drew her card and proceeded to place a monster card on her Duel Disk, "I summon Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja in attack mode!" Gold coins showered down as a red suited ninja with spikey blue hair and a golden pipe appeared. He twirled his golden pipe around his body and stood in a slightly menacing battle pose (ATK 1500).

"Look at that!" the red-head exclaimed.

The brown-head commented, "That thing has the same attack points as my Koumori Dragon!"

"Attack!" Ayami declared as Goe Goe twirled the pipe over his head as he leapt at Shadow Specter and slammed his pipe on it, shattering it into pieces.  
(Gabe: 4000 LP - 1000 = 3000 LP)

Gabe appeared unphased after seeing his monster destroyed. "Not bad. A better start than the other one." He looked at his hand and was surprised to see that Advanced Ritual Art and Battle Ox were no longer in his hand, "What!?" He looked up and saw Goe Goe holding the cards in his hand with a wide grin on his face.

"Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja has a special ability. When it inflicts Battle Damage to you while you hold 5 or more cards in hand, 2 of those cards are randomly discarded!" Goe Goe rips the two cards in half as the graveyard slot on Gabe's Duel Disk lit up like something was sent there. "And it looks like I got your Ritual Spell too." She winked as Gabe scowled.

"Amazing!" The brown-head commented.

"That monster alone is even better than your dragon!" The red-head retorted.

"Hey!"

A face-down card appeared vertically on the field as Ayami finished, "I set 1 card face-down and end my turn."

"Gah." Gabe grunted as he drew his card. "I set a monster face-down and end my turn."

"Not going to set up a reverse card I see? Very well then. My turn!" She drew her card and examined her hand, "Now let's see..."

"Not good." thought Gabe, gritting his teeth, "If she really is a city duelist then she might have something that could bypass my monster altogether and defeat me this turn! I got to last this turn, otherwise my plan is ruined!"

She picked up a card from her hand and placed it on her Duel Disk, "I summon Nin-Ken Dog in attack mode!" A bright red-suited dog humanoid appeared, wearing a headband, a purple cape and a katana on its back (ATK 1800). "I end my turn."

One of the children comments, "Hey look Meo! That thing looks like a beastian like you!"

"No way." Another one argued, "That thing looks more human than a beastian. Look at its hands, and its legs. No way that a beastian."

Meo was paying more attention to Ayami than he was with what they were saying. He seemed mesmerized by her dueling and how she was seemingly toying with her opponent.

Gabe gave a sigh of relief, "I thought I was a goner there. But now I'm good, it's time for my comeback. My turn!" He drew his card and proceeded with his turn. "I reveal my face-down monster! Magician of Faith!" A blue-robed magician with red hair and a crescent moon shaped staff appeared (ATK 300).

"Hm?" Ayami was confused like she was expecting something else.

"When this card is flipped, I can add 1 Spell card to my hand from my graveyard. So I choose to take back my Advanced Ritual Art!" The card slid out of his graveyard and he placed it in his hand. "Next I activate Advanced Ritual Art!" As he inserted into his Duel Disk the giant slab with the green rune appeared. He fanned out his deck and chose 6 cards like before, "Just like before I'll send six Level 1 Normal Monsters from my deck to the graveyard in order to Ritual Summon, Lycanthrope!"

As he inserted the cards into his graveyard, the rune emitted a large pillar of green light. Lycanthrope appeared from inside it and emerged onto the field, howling up toward the sky like it was ready for battle (ATK 2400).

The children were frightened from seeing the monster. Gabe's friends snickered from seeing them scared of the monster.

"Ayami..." Meo muttered with a worried tone.

Ayami gave a slight frown upon seeing the monster. "Here it is again."

"Now then, let's see how much your city deck holds out to my best monster!" Gabe declared, "Lycanthrope attacks Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja!" Lycanthrope howled as it charged toward Goe Goe. Goe Goe raised its pipe as if to defend itself from the attack.

"You're not taking out my monster that easily! I activate Ninjitsu Art of Decoy! This card will protect my Ninja monster from being destroyed in battle!" A log appeared in front of Goe Goe which absorbs the attack from Lycanthrope. The backlash of the attack blows onto Ayami as she explains, "I'll still take all the damage you did though."  
(Ayami: 4000 LP - 2500 = 1500 LP)

"I don't see the point in keeping that monster out. One more hit like that and you lose."

Ayami grinned, "Well your monster can only harm me if it inflicts Battle Damage. So if one monster can act as a permanent wall monster for battle, you will never be able to touch my Life Points."

"Humph. I end my turn."

"My turn then." She drew her card and continued, "I play Pot of Greed! This lets me draw 2 more cards!" She drew 2 more cards and smiled, "Change of plan. Looks like I'm going offense for this round. I equip Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja with Fuhma Shuriken! This Spell card increases the attack of a Ninja monster by 700!" Goe Goe's pipe disappears as two shuriken appear in his hands (ATK 2200).

"So what!? That won't stop my Lycanthrope!"

"Who said I was aiming for your Lycanthrope?" She remarked, "Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja, attack Magician of Faith!" Goe Goe threw his shuriken at Magician of Faith, destroying her into bits.  
(Gabe: 3000 LP - 1900 = 1100 LP)

"Damn..." Gabe scowled.

"I set 1 card face-down. That ends my turn."

The children cheered for Ayami as Meo was still mesmerized by her dueling. "Amazing..."

Gabe grunted but smiled afterwards. "That was stupid to leave your monsters out like that. I just need to inflict damage to either of them, and I win! My turn!" He drew his card and declared, "Lycanthrope, attack her Nin-Ken Dog!" His monster howled and made its move.

"Gotcha. I activate the Trap card Sakuretsu Armor!" A spikey metal armor appeared on Nin-Ken Dog as Lycanthrope striked it. Lycanthrope howled in pain as it struck the armor and was shattered into bits. Gabe was shocked by this. "This Trap destroys an attacking monster. It's a pretty common card where I'm from but you wouldn't know that unless you've been there."

The children cheered once more as Meo thought, "That card worked almost like Mirror Force did. It's like she never lost her best protection."

"Don't think I'm done here." Gabe held up a card and placed it into the Duel Disk, "I activate Monster Reborn!" The blue cross appeared and emitted the blue light into the ground, bringing back Lycanthrope to the field (ATK 2400). He laughed loudly as he explained, "With Monster Reborn my Lycanthrope has returned! Now on my next turn I'll make sure to finish you off for good! Nothing has changed at all!"

Ayami smiled, "Actually, I was waiting for you to do that."

"What?" he exclaimed.

"Now it's just a matter of drawing the card. One way or another you'll lose on my next turn, but I want to do it in a way that even you will be stricken dumbfounded over." She drew her card and grinned, "Got it. First off, I'm going to get rid of your monster. I activate the Spell card Hammer Shot! This card destroys a face-up monster on the field with the highest attack points. Lycanthrope has 2400 attack points so it now gets destroyed!" A large brown hammer came down and bashed Lycanthrope into the ground, destroying it.

"My monster!"

"And now to finish you with your own beast. I activate Spider's Web!" As the card appeared on the field, a string of webbing shot into Gabe's graveyard. "This card lets me take a card from your graveyard that was used last turn and add it to my hand! And the card I'll be taking is, Monster Reborn!"

"What!?"

The web pulls out Monster Reborn and Ayami then caught it as it comes her way. She then examines the card and mutters, "I knew it." She then proceeded to insert it into her Duel Disk, "Now I activate Monster Reborn! And I use it to bring back Lycanthrope!" A beam of light appeared on her field as Lycanthrope appeared (ATK 2400).

Gabe was in shock over seeing his monster on her field. He wasn't expecting it to end like this. "This can't be!"

Ayami looked at the card that was on her Duel Disk. "So is this one...anyway, time to end it! Lycanthrope, direct attack!" Lycanthrope howled up to the sky as it charged in at Gabe, who was freaking out in panic. It then sliced him with his claws and his Life Points dropped.  
(Gabe: 1100 LP - 2400 = 0 LP)

The children cheered with excitement as the holograms disappeared. Meo stood there with the same expression he had during the duel and muttered, "She did it. She's so amazing."

She walked over to Gabe who had fallen to his knees. She held out Monster Reborn and Lycanthrope to him like she was telling him something about them. "There's something you should know." He looked up at her as she continued, "I don't know whether or not you know this, but these cards here aren't real. Their counterfeits."

"C...counterfeit?"

"Yep. These cards weren't officially distributed by the University. They were created by outside distributers who were trying to get your money in buying cheap imitations. The real cards would have the official copyrighting on the lower-right of the card, see?" She pointed her finger toward the spot where she said it would be. "Do you know that using illegally made cards could get you fined for having counterfeits? The University doesn't stand for those who acquire cards from outside their market, so you could be in big trouble with them."

"I...I didn't know!" He stuttered, "I just assumed they were real!" He pulled out his deck and gave it to her, "I wouldn't of played them if they weren't real, honest!"

Ayami pulled out a few more cards from his deck and gave it back to him. "Even so, you still had them. Though it's not like I'll tell anyone if you don't." She ripped the cards into tiny pieces as they scattered into the wind. "Just know better next time, okay?"

Gabe nodded, "Yes!"

"Oh and about your Duel Disk, you said you got that from someone too?"

"Uh huh." He took it off and gave it to her. She then threw it on the ground, surprising him as the Duel Disk breaks apart.

"Duel Disks are also under University property. Real ones wouldn't break as easily as this one did."

Gabe sulked at the remains of his Duel Disk while his friends gathered around him. Ayami walked back over to Meo and friends.

"Ayami..." he muttered.

She gently patted his head. "Cards can make a duelist, but it's how you use them that truely makes you one. Every card has purpose, no matter how strong or weak it is. Let that be something he said, and don't think wrongly of him. We all learn from each other, through victory and defeat."

Meo glanced at Gabe who was sulking over his loss. He then walked over to him and offered out his paw. "That was a good duel we had."

For a moment Gabe stared at him with an uncertain look on his face. He then smiled and shook his paw, "Yeah." The two shared a smile together.

-----------------

Later that night, Meo was back at home after a long day with being with Ayami. He was tucked into bed by Eliza as he fell asleep.

She walked out of his room as Ayami was standing against the wall waiting for her. "Thank you for taking card of him today." she said.

"What can I say? I have a way with children." Ayami smiled cheerfully.

"I just wish I could repay you somehow."

"No payment is necessary. I just want to help out a friend that's all." She started to walk toward the door like she was going to leave. She put her hand on the doorknob and said, "But you know...perhaps some information would be nice."

"Hm?" Eliza appeared uncertain by what she meant.

Ayami turned around, her face appeared more serious than she was before. "Perhaps you could tell me just how much you know about husband, Giera Lightfoot, or rather Giera the Shadow Thief."

Eliza was shocked to hear her say that. This was the first time someone brought it up and she had not expect it to come from Ayami.

"I want to know how close you were to him, and if you have anything to say against his previous thefts."

To Be Continued...


	3. Giera, Thief and Husband!

_(A/N: Believe it or not, there's no dueling in this chapter! Well even though this relates to YGO, it's not like you can fill every chapter with a duel, right? Also another special thanks to my beta-reader for a few suggestions.)_

-----------------

**Chapter 3: Giera, Thief and Husband!**

-----------------

"How...how do you know my husband was Giera?" Eliza asked. She was still in shock over hearing Ayami say his name. It was like she didn't want anyone knowing the fact that Giera was her husband.

"Not too long." Ayami replied, "To be honest I only heard him being called by his last name only once during my training days. As a little girl I would always hear people call him by Giera the Shadow Thief. A very cunning and master thief, seemingly appearing and disappearing in the shadows. Always quick and always light on his feet. When you said your last name was Lightfoot, it made me remember that time I heard that name so when I got back home I had to confirm it. Of course it wasn't just the name that gave it away. Your son..."

She cut off her words like she expected Eliza to know what she meant. Meo was a black cat just like Giera so she was assuming that Eliza knew that they looked alike. There was no mistake that they both had the same eyes and fur coat as well as sharing the same last name.

"Well..." Eliza tilted her head down slightly as if she was guilty of knowing the truth.

"I also noticed that you had a copy of 'The Philosophy of Dueling'." Ayami held up the book which surprised Eliza. She wasn't expecting Ayami to know about it. "It's a rare collectible book which has only 100 printed copies. People pay a lot of money just to track it down from other people. I don't know how long you've had it, but from what I could gather from your son it seems like Giera is connected to it."

"It's not..."

"Eliza..." she paused for a moment and then smiled, "Why didn't you think to use this back then?"

"Eh?" Eliza was stunned. Ayami was starting to sound like her usual self again.

"With this, you would have been able to pay off that fake debt from before and you wouldn't have been in danger. You two would have been safe until we resolved the matter so why didn't you?"

Eliza mumbled like she didn't know what to say. She then replied, "It never came to me before. It was just something that..." she paused for a moment as Ayami appeared curious to what she was going to say next. "But why would it matter now? You said it had to deal with my husband."

Ayami smiled brightly and walked over to her, "Well even though you're related to him through marriage, I have no proof whether or not this is actual stolen property from before or after that, nor would I have proof if you had a hand in it." She handed the book to Eliza and tilted her hat up slightly with her thumb. "Plus for the government to leave you alone for this long means they had their reasons to do what they had to, so I can't really argue with that. Not that I want to."

"Miss Ayami..." she clutched the book tightly.

"Don't worry about it. Though I have to ask, how did you two meet?"

"Eh?"

Ayami held her fists close together like she wanted her to answer. "Like how did it go? Was it love at first sight? Did he steal you away? Tell me girl, it just sounds romantic that you would fall for a thief!"

Eliza was speechless as her cheeks turned slightly red. No one had ever asked her about her relationship with Giera in what seemed like forever. After what might have been a frightful moment was starting to sound like a normal conversation all over again. She gave a faint smile and said, "Well you see...Many years ago I met him while I was a servant for a rich family in another country. After awhile it came to the point where I couldn't stand to be there anymore. So I ran away with him, explored the world and even have Meo."

"Awww, that's sounds romantic!" said Ayami in awe, "You got to tell me everything sometime!" She walked back toward the front door and said, "Well I'll see you later Eliza! Take care!" She turned the doorknob and when she was about to step out she paused and asked, "Oh, one other thing."

"Yes?" Eliza asked. She didn't know what else Ayami would want.

"Your last name. I don't know all the details but supposively Lightfoot never came up on a previous registry prior to his arrest. Would it happen to be your last name or his?"

Eliza gave a wider smile and said, "It was his."

"Okay. That's all I needed then. Bye!" She closed the door as she left the house.

Eliza placed her back against the wall and slowly began to lower herself down to the floor sitting against the wall. She stared at the book and muttered, "It really has been that long hasn't it?"

-----------------

It was 13 years ago. Within the capital city of Sanjaya there was a large mansion that sat amongst others that were built similar to another. This one however was decorated with banners hanging down from the front with a bright blue and green logo of a knight with a shield behind it. Inside the large mansion was a man in a black business suit holding a book titled "The Philosophy of Dueling". In front of him was his son, who was an eight-year old boy with black rounded-flat short hair and was wearing a light-blue business suit.

"Here you go Bobby. The book you've had your eye on."

The father handed the book to Bobby who appeared excited to receive it, "Ah! 'The Philosophy of Dueling' book! Just what I always wanted! Thank you papa!"

"Hm hm, I knew you'd like it." He gentle rubbed Bobby's hair and said, "Now be sure to continue your studies as normal."

"Ah!" Bobby ran upstairs with the book in his arms.

After he was out of sight, the expression on his father's face changed to appear sterner as he called out toward the kitchen, "Eliza! Eliza, come here!"

"Ye...yes master!" She ran out of the kitchen and bowed in front of him. She was wearing a maid's uniform and appeared to be 20.

"I want you to clean the second floor, and especially around the guest room. I'll have the others take care of the other floors. I have an important guest coming tomorrow so I need to have this place constantly in good shape for her arrival."

"Oh." Eliza appeared interested in this guest. Her master was a single man who only had a son. The idea that a woman was coming to her house made her wonder if he had plans for her. "Is she, special?"

He blushed slightly, "You could say that. Now please, get to it."

"Yes master!" She turned around and took a few steps upward when she turned around and asked, "Um...master. I was wondering if perhaps I could arrange time off for the weekend? It's my mother's birthday this week and I was hoping I could do something special for her so..."

He let out a faint smile, "Is that so? Well then, by all means go ahead. I think you've worked hard enough to deserve it."

"Th...thank you master!" She appeared thrilled as she scurried upstairs.

-----------------

It was around the afternoon when she had arrived in the guest room. She kept a duster held by her tail as she was straightened out a few things in the room. She was also dusting with one paw and her tail. As she dusted around the open window she stopped to look out toward the city below. The mansion was located in the upper-class area that was up on a hill that overlooked the market and lower residence of the city, with the castle being higher up behind it.

Eliza sighed as she watched the sun begin to fall toward the rooftops of the city. She felt like wanting to leave this place and see the outside of the city for once. Being cramped up inside the mansion for so long she had no idea what it's like outside the city. She would have to make trips to the market but otherwise she went no where else. It was like she wanted to see more than just the city.

"Hi Eliza!" a familiar voice came from behind her.

She was surprised slightly as she turned around. Bobby was standing there holding his new book. She started to act frantic and bowed, "Oh, young master! I'm sorry I got side-tracked, It won't happen again!"

Bobby was confused by the way she acted. "Oh it's not like that or anything. I was just wondering that maybe you could read to me tonight." He held out his book and smiled, "It's always fun when you read to me! What do you say?"

She looked at the book for a moment before looking back at him. She had a concerned look on her face like it could be a bad idea. "I thought your father said you were too old for this sort of thing."

"Oh never mind him! Besides I really want you to, please!?"

"Well..." She thought about what to do and then she smiled, "Okay."

"Yes! Thank you Eliza!" He ran off with a large smile on his face. After he had left she continued to stare outside.

-----------------

It was night time and the moon was high in the sky. In Bobby's room, Eliza was reading his book to him, who was in bed.

"-so it was my understanding that back then, humans and Duel Monsters existed very closely to one another. The artifacts found in various ruins depicted the images of monsters that could be seen on the cards. Some images depict humans fighting each other alongside these creatures. It's possible that dueling existed even far back before cards were created as a medium. The Lost Age certainly is fascinating with how a simple card game could be brought on by countless years of battle."

She turned the page and Bobby pointed to the page excitingly, "Ah! Look at that! So cool!"

The page had a picture of a dragon. It appeared to have a round-top head with spikes on both sides of its head, just about where the mouth is.

"That's one of his cards, a dragon of legends, isn't it?"

Eliza giggled, "Well I don't know anything about that. I'm just a maid, I don't understand things like this. But it must be amazing if you think it is."

Bobby laid back with his hands behind his head. "It's stuff like this that makes me want to become a duelist when I get older. Right now papa won't let me have Duel Monster cards, but he said if I continue studying hard I could have them. For me to have this book means that he'll let me have them soon. And when that happens, I'll become the greatest duelist in the entire world. Even greater than that guy!"

"I'm sure you'll make a great duelist." She put the book on the table next to him as she then pulled the blanket sheet over him. "Now it's time for you to get your rest."

She walked toward the door as Bobby called out, "Eliza?" She stopped to hear what he was going to say, "Do you...like it here? I mean sometimes you look outside like you rather be out there. Is there nothing you like about here?"

After a moment of silence, she turned to him and smiled, "Of course I do. I enjoy serving you, you're a really nice boy."

"Because I wouldn't like to see you sad. It makes me sad to see you not happy."

Her smile was unchanged as she finished, "Get some sleep now." She closed the door behind her.

-----------------

At the end of the hallway, by the window, was Eliza's room. It was on the same floor as Bobby's and was also within the same hallway only two doors down. Eliza opened her door and peeked inside, "I'm back mother."

"Splendid." said the mother. She was like Eliza but appeared slightly older than she was. Her cheeks were showing signs of being thin like she hadn't eaten in a while. She was bed-ridden for being ill for a long time. "So how were things? I hope you didn't work too hard."

Eliza sat in a chair next to the bed and grabbed her mother's right paw, "Everything was fine mother. In fact, I asked master if I could have the time off this weekend so we could celebrate your birthday."

"Now I told you before, you shouldn't need to concern yourself with such little things, especially since you need this job to pay rent."

"I know that, but after so many years of working here don't you think you deserve something special on your big day? I mean I've been working hard for the both of us but you've done more than I could ever hope."

Her mother gave a light smile, "I know you're trying hard, but just remember that your own priorities come first over mine. If you want to go out and find yourself a handsome young man then you better."

"Oh mother." Eliza giggled slightly in a rhetorical way, "You know I can't do that. We're indebted to the master."

"Trust me dear." her mother placed her other paw over Eliza's. "You and I are only indebted as long as I'm around. You don't have to continue serving him when I'm gone. But even so you can still see about going out on your own more often."

Eliza frowned. Her mother was trying to tell her not to keep lingering to her just because she was ill. It was like she wanted her to leave her for a better life instead of continuing the one she was living already. "I don't know. I just don't know if I can-"

Her mother began to cough rapidly like she was in dire pain.

"Mother!" She laid her down and covered her up to her neck with the blankets. Her mother was breathing heavily and her cheeks were red. Eliza got up panicky and ran to the door, "Hang on! I'll get you some medicine!" She ran out of the room while closing the door behind her.

-----------------

She was about to run when she saw the door to Bobby's room open up. She froze as a dark figure emerged from the room with a large bag on his back. She could tell the intruder was beastian from how he had a long slim tail behind him. Her eyes allowed her to see in the dark but she couldn't tell exactly what he looked like. She knew that if she moved at all she might give herself away and risk being harmed by the intruder. If the intruder had a weapon on him then it would mean trouble for her. Just then she saw the intruder hold up a book in his paws and was staring at it.

"Young master's book!" she realized mentally, her eyes widened. She knew that it had to be the book Bobby was given. As quietly as she could she positioned herself to where she could take a long-leap at him and get him from behind. Her nails extended outward like short-little knives.

The intruder's ears catch the sound of her leaping from her spot to reach him. He quickly turned around and caught her by the wrists. As she struggled to free herself, the moonlight began to shine in from the windows after the clouds moved away. The light bathed the two and she looked up in surprised to see that the intruder was a cat beastian just like she was. He had black fur and his eyes were green. There appeared to be a slight tear in his left ear as if something cut him there.

"You should be more careful than that." the intruder said quietly so he wouldn't give himself away to anyone else on the floor, "You might harm those delicate paws of yours."

Eliza managed to pull herself away from him and distanced herself slightly so that he wouldn't be able to touch her. "Return that book that you stole!" she shouted.

"Book? You mean this?" He held up the book to about his shoulder and said, "This book might be valuable, but it's still just a book. If I were the type to harm someone just to get it, would you want to risk your life to get back a book? Especially on something so strange sounding. Duel Monsters? Humans come up with the strangest things."

"That book means a lot to my young master!" she responded angrily. She knew what Bobby was trying to become with that book and was determined to get it back. "He wants to become a great duelist when he grows up, so he wants to learn everything he can through that book! If you take it from him, he'll be crushed for sure!"

The intruder was perplexed by what she was saying. He had never heard of a beastian wanting to protect something belonging to a human. "You really want this back? Even though the humans in this country treat you so badly?"

Her eyes started to water like she was really desperate. She nodded knowing that no matter what she said he might not return the book anyway. However what happened next was a surprise for her. He tossed the book at her and she caught it.

Without her noticing the intruder stepped up to her and said, "You can have it back then. Not for the human though, but only because you wanted it. I don't generally like making people cry for the little things, especially women."

She looked up at him wondering who he was. He seemed different from any thief she known. It was like she was looking at someone who respects those he was stealing from rather than being cruel. She suddenly realized that she knew who he was. "Wait...I know you, you're-"

They both heard footsteps of someone coming upstairs. The intruder quietly said one last thing to her, "See ya."

He began to bolt for the window at the end of the hall as Bobby's father came up the stairs in time to see the intruder about halfway to the window. "Thief!" He shouted. He started to run after him but the intruder had busted through the window by the time he reached Eliza's position. When he got to the window he could only watch the intruder hop roof to roof in his escape.

Eliza was stunned over what had happened. She was given the book and was really close to the intruder enough to where she nearly said a name.

"Gah..." he grunted with disappointment. "Are you alright?"

"Ye...yes master. I'm sorry, but I could only save young master's book. I...don't know what else he might have taken."

He walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, "What's important is your safety. I'm glad you weren't hurt at all, though I am surprised. Knowing burglars and thieves, they are known to harm or even kill people. I'm just glad that it didn't happen to you." She handed him the book and he continued, "I'm going to contact the city police force. In the meantime you just head back to bed."

Before he was about to go into Bobby's room, Eliza suddenly remembered why she left her room. "Master. I...actually I just remembered. My mother, she's acting up again and-"

"Say no more." She appeared surprised as he continued, "Go fetch her what she needs, and get something for her to eat. I still have some leftover fish meat you could have. And I heard your kind prefers warm milk for sleeping issues?"

She smiled and bowed, "Y...yes master!"

-----------------

She returned to her room after retrieving the medicine for her mother. She had also brought up a plate of cooked fish meat and a glass of warm milk. Her mother leaned up after hearing her come in.

"Are you alright? I heard a crash outside."

Eliza placed the plate of fish on her mother's lap and the glass of milk on the counter next to her with the medicine beside the milk. She appeared happy and explained, "I'm okay. But you wouldn't believe who I saw robbing the mansion."

-----------------

The next day the city police force had arrived to investigate on the robbery that had occurred the previous night. Among them was Inspector Donaldson, who was the head of the police force. He was in Bobby's room examining the window that the intruder used to get in. He noticed claw marks on the sides of the window frame and that a small hole was cut through the glass.

"So anything to tell me?"

Donaldson turned to Bobby's father, who had walked in to see what they learned. He stroked his white slim mustache as he explained, "Well Mr. Aston, according to what I can make from the supposive point-of-entry, I would say that your subject is none other than the famous Shadow Thief, Giera."

"Giera? As in Giera the Shadow Thief, that Giera?" The word struck a bell inside his head. Aston knew about many famous thieves from his own country and from others. However he appeared rather surprised by how it was Giera who broke into his home. "I thought he was only native to Arcum, what's he doing in this country?"

Donaldson began to clean his glasses with a cloth he kept in his leather suit, "Now Mr. Aston, the mind of a thief is generally filled with one thing in mind and that's money. While I did hear that Giera prefers to rob within his home country, that doesn't mean he can't still stowaway to get here. Course now this means that he's our problem so we'll be keeping a sharp watch for him for the time being. As for the damage report, the only thing you suffered from is a broken window, some clawed out window frames and a hole in the window. Nothing appears to be stolen as far as you've told us."

"Well he did try to steal one thing apparently, and that was a book I got for my son." Aston crossed his fingers underneath his chin as he pondered. "One of my maids was able to get it back somehow without being harmed."

"Well know this. No matter how a thief plays out the thief is still a thief. He'll come back here eventually and when he does we'll be sure to catch him. He might be an expert in stealth but he hasn't seen anything we can't dish out."

-----------------

"So you actually got to meet Giera the Shadow Thief face-to-face?" a young maid asked. She along with Eliza and another maid were sorting clothes in the basement of the mansion. She was slim with dark hair while the other maid was heavily built and large.

"Yes I did."

"Oooh, you're so lucky! I hear Giera is one of the most charming men to ever rob the streets! Why if I could meet him once, I wish he'd steal me away!" Eliza gave a slight chuckle while the large maid kept on working. "So tell me, what was he like? Was he cute?"

"Well...I could tell you one thing, he wasn't human."

The slim maid frowned disappointingly, "Aww..." She then perked up like she didn't care that Giera wasn't human. "Well was he still cute?"

"Well...he's of my species so I guess so."

"Humph." the large maid grunted, "You're just lucky he didn't hurt you. If that guy ever came back to try and rob us again I'd take his head and stick it in the cleaning tub. You girls need to learn one thing and that's thieves do not treat people with kindness, especially to women. The minute you turn your back on them they would of stolen more than just your pride."

"Oh you're just jealous that you didn't get to see him!" said the slim maid. "I bet you would go gah gah over him the minute you catch his face!"

The large maid suddenly appeared more frightening than she was before. It was like she had grown in size as she towered above her like she really meant everything she said. "Listen, thieves are like men, the bad population of men who would do nothing but break hearts! If you ever think that such a man like him could bring you happiness then I'm afraid there's no hope for you what so ever!"

The slim maid was frightened by how the large maid became scarier than before.

"Well I better get to the job at hand. Pardon me girls." Eliza picked up a basket and clothes and proceeded to walk upstairs.

"You know," the slim maid sighed as she watched Eliza leave the room, "She's really lucky. She gets to have all the time with the young master than we do, she's practically the master's favorite and she gets to meet a cute guy. Why couldn't I be so lucky?"

"Well maybe if you actually did your work instead of goofing off he'd pay more attention to you." the large maid replied.

"I don't goof off, do I?"

"The water is running." She pointed toward the large sink as it began to overflow. The slim maid panicked as she turned off the water and picked up a mop. "Honestly..."

-----------------

The warm sunlight was beaming down on the floor across from the door on the fourth floor, as Eliza walked up to it with her laundry. She took a moment to allow the sunlight to bathe her which gave her a soothing feel like being in a nice soft bed. She then proceeded inside the room where she set the laundry basket down and as she picked up some clothes she was shocked by the presence of a familiar intruder in the room.

"Heya." Giera called out while sitting on the window frame. She was sitting in a cat-like posture.

"Y...you!" She dropped the bundle of clothes she had and was about to scream.

"Shh. Now that's no way to treat a guest."

"Guest? This is my master's room! How dare you even coming here!" She noticed Giera had an apple in his paw as he proceeded to eat it. She looked toward a table and noticed that an apple was taken from the fruit bowl. "Ah! That's not yours to eat!"

He finished eating the apple and held the core up in the air, wiggling it around as he said, "Well I did say 'See ya.' Meaning I was going to come back."

"And so you steal my master's apple!?" She was enraged by how Giera was acting like he could take what he wants.

He dropped the core to the ground and stretched his arms. "Nothing you can't replace. You are a maid after all, surely you could get another one if you wanted."

"That's not the point! The police are here and if they find you you'll likely get captured and thrown in the dungeon!"

"Please, these guys might claim to have the best security in the whole world, but they could never catch a thief like me. For a guy who likes to do most of his thefts in the dark, I managed to come in undetected in broad daylight. So even if you do try to turn me in, I would be out of here faster than you can say 'master.'"

In her mind she did not know whether he was serious or if he was bluffing. It's true that he was able to get inside without being seen. He had to have been lucky that the window he was standing in was open without having being penetrated by a nail. If she were to call out for help it wouldn't matter if he was as fast as he claims.

"Plus if you did call out to them your master might think you're crazy and punish you or something."

"My master wouldn't think I'm crazy!" she yelled. "He knows me well enough to know that I am just as serious to what I say as to what I do!" She picked up the clothes she dropped earlier and began to stuff them in drawers that were across from Aston's bed. "I don't even know why you're here again. What was trying to steal young master's book not enough to satisfy your lust for gold?"

"Nah. I figured that since I did you a favor in giving you back that book I thought you could do me a favor in getting me some food."

"What!?"

"Yep. I think it's a fair trade. I keep off your master's belongings and you feed me, doesn't sound bad does it?" He leapt off the window frame and walked toward the bed. She turned around and was annoyed by how he casually lays on the bed, "So a nice cooked salmon would be nice, oh and some warm milk to go."

She grabbed his tail and yanked it toward her. "Get off! You'll get hair on it!"

"Alright, alright. But I'll have you know that I've already shedded my coat this year."

He got off the bed as she examined it to see if there were any hairs left behind. She knew that even a tiny bit of cat hair could get her in trouble. She sighed after finding no hair on the bed sheets.

"So how about it?" He walked over to the laundry basket and picked up a batch of clothes.

"Don't touch those! Your paws are likely dirty!" She grabbed them from him and proceeded to stuff them in the drawers.

Giera felt like he was offended. Her words were cold and harsh in every way he knew. "Oh come now, I might be a thief but even I have standards. I clean myself like any cat would do." She stared blankly at him with the same look she's been giving him. "Look all I ask is some food for returning the thing I stole. If you can give me some food I'll be happy to leave knowing we're both on even grounds, okay?"

"What makes you think I won't just bring the police here while you relax on my master's bed behind my back?"

He smiled and replied, "I'm not worried. I don't think you're that type of person and even if you did try to bring them here my ears would catch them long before you hit the second floor."

She looked at him with a suspicious look on her face, "Liar."

"Am I?"

"Fine. I'll see what I can do. Don't expect any more than a crumb of bread though."

He smiled widely, "Great! I'll see you later then! If not here then the basement."

As she opened the door, Bobby was on the other side. "Young master!" She said surprised.

His face was as beaming as ever but she knew that something was off. "Hey Eliza. Who were you talking to?"

She turned around and Giera was gone. "N...no one." She thought to herself about if Bobby really heard Giera talking to her or if he was imagining things. She also wondered why he was up here, like if master called for her but she couldn't hear because she was upstairs on the third floor.

"Father wants you downstairs. His 'lover' is about to arrive."

"I see. Then I suppose we should go greet her with the others." She walked with him as they go down the hall.

"Oh and about your friend..." Eliza's eyes widened, like she was exposed for talking with a criminal. Bobby however was just grinning like a boy would knowing that a girl likes another boy. "I won't tell father you're seeing somebody too."

Eliza sarcastically laughed like she was lucky that he didn't know exactly what was going on. She only knew that her secret was safe and Bobby wouldn't tell anyone about him.

-----------------

"Alright ladies!" Aston addressed Eliza and the two maids as they all stand in front of the front door in the main corridor. He was wearing his usual business suit only he was wearing a rose on his suit as well. Bobby was standing next to his father wearing the same kind of suit. "Today Lady Colette will be visiting us! She is a really good friend of mine and will be staying here for the next few days. Just as you do with me and Bobby, you will treat her just like she was one of us, understand!?"

"Yes master!" all three bowed.

The door opened up slowly and a young blonde woman stepped inside. Her hair was long and reached her back. She was wearing a peach-colored silk hat and a peach-colored dress. She carried a white parasol over her head as she strolled inside.

Aston walked up to her and took her hand. "Nice to see you again after so long." He kissed her hand and she giggled.

"Yes indeed. It's been so long since we've last seen each other. Why I believe it was over 20 years ago since you went to inherit your father's fortune. I see you have quite a lot going for you."

He blushed brightly and said, "Well it certainly was no picnic but I can assure you things are just as grand as they were years ago."

She chuckled and turned her gaze at Bobby, "So is this your son?"

"Yes. This is Bobby, he is currently next in line to inherit the family fortune."

Bobby bowed in front of her, "Nice to meet you kind lady."

Colette chuckled, "So polite too." She turned her attention to Eliza and the others, starting with the slim maid. "And you got some lovely servants too..." She paused after seeing Eliza. Her face turned slightly bitter like she saw something unappealing to look at. "Um...a beastian?"

"This is Eliza, daughter of a friend that I happen to be taking care of." said Aston as he walked to her side. "She happens to be my most reliable servant here in the household."

"I see..." she paused slightly so he wouldn't see her change in gesture, "You never told me you had beastian servants."

Eliza appeared disappointed that she wasn't liked by Colette. However Aston continued, "She is my only one at the moment. Her mother has been sick for quite some time, so Eliza's been working double for the two of them."

"I see, and how long have they been here?"

"About 2 years after inheriting the fortune."

Colette thought to herself for a moment before smiling like her normal self. "That's fine I guess. Just unusual to me that's all. I mean I don't generally see beastian within the city at all, so to see one as a servant is a first."

"You have my word that she is just as one of us as everyone else. They all work so hard and I know you won't be dissatisfied. Now...would you like something to eat before I show you to your room?"

"I would be delighted." she replied. Her face was cheerful and innocent.

"Right." Aston turned to his maids and asked, "Ladies, I'd like one of you to..."

"On it master!" the slim maid sputtered as she ran toward the kitchen.

The large maid shook her head. "I better make sure she doesn't overdo it again."

Eliza was about to join them when Aston stopped her. "Eliza. Why don't you check on your mother and see if she needs anything." She bowed and walked upstairs.

"Tell me something." Colette started to wrap her arms around Aston's body in a loving manner, "Why exactly do you have beastian living in your home? I always thought they were too thick-headed to do any human work."

Eliza paused as her ears picked up the words from Colette. She was already about to reach the second floor so they couldn't see her listening to their conversation.

"Believe it or not, but they aren't as different like you think. You see, 2 years after last seeing you I met her mother in the streets in an alleyway that no one cared to look through. She looked like she was in pain and I wondered how she was able to get inside the city."

-----------------

It was 20 years ago in Sanjaya and it was raining heavily. Aston, who appeared 21, was face-to-face with a beastian that he had never seen before. He had read about them but had never seen one in person. The cat beastian was laying against a wall in the alleyway looking up at Aston, who was carrying an umbrella over his head.

"Please..." she said in a really weak voice. "Help me..."

Aston was surprised by how desperate she felt and leaned down to cover her with the umbrella.

-----------------

"She was originally someone else's servant but was rejected after being found out she was pregnant. I didn't know what to do so after bringing her to my home I called for a doctor. It was then I knew just by looking at her that, she really wasn't any that different from you or me. She even offered her service to me after she recovered a bit from delivery."

-----------------

"You wish to serve me?" Aston asked. His back was turned away while he faced the beastian.

The beastian bowed to him, "Yes! For helping me and my newborn daughter I wish to offer my full services to you! And I wish for my daughter to be allowed this privilege as well!"

He turned around to face her normally. "I can't just accept people as servants like that."

"Please, I will do anything you ask!" Tears were running down her cheeks. "Anything to make you happy and to keep my daughter."

He thought about what to do and then said, "Very well. You and your daughter can stay here as my servants. However, for you I am doing this because I helped you when you needed it. For your daughter, until the day you die she is to stay here by your side. She owes nothing short than your life to be here, because otherwise she is free to do as she pleases.

-----------------

"So you felt pity for them?" Colette wondered.

"Yes." Aston started to show a smile, "But I think that might have been one of the best decisions of my life. Because I have two wonderful and dedicated servants who do their best everyday. For that they deserve everything they could ask."

Having overheard everything, Eliza smiled knowing that she was loved by her master. She proceeded to walk upstairs like before.

"If you will excuse me Colette, I need to wash up before lunch." He walked away from her as he entered the wash room.

"Humph. I wouldn't let those things near me if I were him. Filthy creatures." She clenched her hand tightly.

-----------------

"Mother!" Eliza arrived in her room and found her mother in her bed as usual.

"So how was our new guest?" her mother asked cheerfully. Her smile was faint and she had wrinkles on her cheeks still. It was like nothing changed with her condition.

Eliza sat next to her on the bed. "Well I got to be honest."

"Yes?"

"She...well..." Eliza tried to think of words to describe what she had been through. She wanted to tell her how she really felt but that would likely upset her. She forced a smile and continued, "She's great."

"I'm glad. Make sure you do a good job with tending to her every need, and don't work yourself too hard."

"Yes mother." She got up and walked away. She was halfway through the doorway as she took a moment to sigh. She did not want her mother to see that she was depressed about how Colette was really treating her.

-----------------

Time passed as Eliza carried a plate of food to the basement door. She pressed her paw against the doorknob thinking whether if Giera was waiting for her down there or not. She thought about if it was a trick into doing something that would really get her hurt or worse. She shook her head and opened the door.

"Hello?" she peeked inside and called out. She closed the door behind her as she turn on the light. She wandered around the basement floor and continued to call out, "Is anyone here?"

A dark figure lingered downward from the ceiling behind her. She slowly turned around to find Giera about face-to-face with her. "Boo."

"Ah!" She screamed, almost dropping the plate of food. Giera was right in front of her just hanging upside down from the ceiling. His feet and left paw were nailed into the ceiling with his claws with his right arm free to move about.

"Those for me?"

Eliza appeared frightening mad, "D...don't scare me like that! And I have to ask, how did you even get in here unnoticed!?"

"Basement window." he replied as he grabbed a piece of cheese and started eating it, "Wasn't hard to squeeze through."

She looked toward the window toward the other side of the room. The window was small and was ground level from the outside. It was too small for a normal human to fit through but was big enough for a cat beastian to squeeze through.

"I must say, you guys in Sanjaya really have good tastes in food." He grabbed a piece of sausage and fish and started eating those. "This stuff tastes slightly better than in Arcum."

"Now you listen up!" she yelled. She was still upset over how he was taking advantage of her. "I don't want you being here any longer than you have so when you finish eating I want you out! And get your claws off the ceiling, you'll leave claw marks in them!"

Giera positioned himself so he could fall down without hurting himself. He retracted his nails and came down. Afterwards he proceeded to take the plate from her, "Alright."

He sat down with the plate in his lap and resumed to eating what was on it. Eliza sat down as well, now having a more curious look on her face. as she watched him eat. "You really have no worries at all do you?"

"Why should I worry? No one can catch me."

"And is that any reason to be stealing people's belongings and eating out their food?"

He looked up at her with some food crumbs all over his cheeks. "Now it's not like I don't do something in return for the food. I mean I did give you back that book to you, so I think being fed isn't such a bad trade."

"So you expect to get things for returning stolen objects? I never heard of such a thing from a thief."

"I wouldn't say I expect this. Just that in a situation like this, where a cute young woman begs for something that shouldn't be taken I couldn't just leave them in tears like that. But a guy like me's gotta live too you know?"

"You could always find a job, or whatever it is beastian do in your country."

He picked up a small piece of fish and began to chew it, "Well I'm not like them. I steal and make my living from that, but I still follow my own rules and never do anything that would leave a tear on a man's face. What fun would it be to steal from sad people?"

She tilted her head slightly and gave a faint smile, "You're...you're really different from what I thought. I just can't understand you at all."

He swallowed the tail-end of the fish and asked, "Well I don't understand why you want to be cooped up in a place like this. I could tell you want to be more outside in the open environment."

"I get outside!" she sputtered out, like he was wrong about her never going outside. "Just...never outside the city."

"Well this country doesn't exactly treat its beastian in the same light as back home. You should really consider running away, maybe finding yourself a nice strong man for once. Kinda like me." He smiled as he pointed to himself.

She blushed and turned away so he wouldn't see her embarrassed looking face, "Y...you sound just like my mother."

"Hm? You have a mother?"

She turned back to him and saw that he was curious to know about her mother. "Well where do I start?"

-----------------

After some time had passed, the food on Giera's plate was gone and he had heard the whole story on Eliza and her mother. "I see. So you're stuck here until your mother passes away."

"I wouldn't say I'm stuck here! Besides, it's not like I want to leave here either. I'm given full right to do whatever I want when she goes, but I'm doing what I can to keep her alive."

"But from the sound of things it seems like she isn't doing well as far as health is concerned." Giera appeared more serious than before. Before he was seemingly carefree like he was on top of the world. "Plus you're pushing yourself to where it gets so hard on you at times. Do you really think she would want you to push yourself this much just for your master?"

"My master doesn't mind!" she objected.

"But wouldn't he say the same thing your mother is saying?" Eliza was surprised by what he said and wondered herself. "If he truly respects you the way you say he does then wouldn't you want to listen to him? If your job was to put your work into keeping your mother healthy above all else wouldn't you do it?"

"I just can't do that!" She got up with an angry look on her face, "She did a lot for him and it was master who gave us this home! So I have to make sure I repay them both without doing less for either!"

They glared at each other for a moment. Afterwards Giera stood up, "Well good luck with that. Thanks for the meal." He walked past her to the window. "Just wonder what you will do if you do decide to leave here. You don't have a clue on what's beyond these city walls." As he left through the window Eliza began to feel sad.

Just outside the basement door, Colette was standing by the top of the stairs as if she heard everything that had went on.

-----------------

Later that night, Aston and Colette were together in the dining room having wine. "That was a rather nice dinner. And this wine is certainly exquisite."

"Only the best for you." he smiled. Colette looked at him the same way.

"Father!" Bobby ran into the dining room. He was panting like he was running around looking for something. "Have you seen my book? The one you gave me yesterday?"

"Isn't it in your room?"

Colette chuckled, "You mean that book on dueling or like that? Haven't seen it."

Bobby looked down with a depressed look on his face when Eliza came into the room. "Something wrong young master?"

"My book is missing." he sniffed, "I can't find it anywhere."

"I'm sure it's somewhere. Why don't we go find it together?" She started to lead him out of the room.

"Or maybe a thief came in and took it when you weren't looking." Colette suddenly spoke out. Eliza stopped in shock after hearing her say that. Aston started to appear suspicious about her words as she continued, "You did say that a thief robbed you last night right? Perhaps the same one you've been seeing today?"

Eliza was stunned by her accusation. Bobby was looking worried about what was going on, "What?"

Aston stood up and turned to Colette, "What are you talking about Colette? Eliza wouldn't be mingling with some thief, she's better than that!"

"Oh?" Colette turned her eyes at him with a snark look on her face, "I overheard something going on in the basement. It turns out Eliza has been giving food to the thief that robbed you last night, apparently as payment for not stealing anything the night before. Perhaps he decided to go back and steal that book of yours."

"No that's not-" Eliza shouted.

"Not what? You admit to giving food to him or not?"

Everyone stared at Eliza with question. Bobby's eyes were blank from everything he's heard. Aston was speechless and his face almost cold. Colette kept a smile on her face like she knew her accusation was true.

"I...is this really true Eliza?" Bobby muttered, "Was that guy you talked to earlier today...the same one she's talking about now?"

"Young master..." Eliza muttered. As she reached out to him he ran the other way with his head down.

"Eliza." Aston turned to her and she faced him. She could see his eyes were the eyes that were filled with doubt. "That book was hard to come by. To not only let that thief take it and to give him food, I..." He paused and clenched his hands on the table. "Just go to your room. I'll be up to talk to you later."

Without any question she bowed to him and proceeded upstairs. Her two maid friends watched from the side with concern for their friend.

-----------------

Eliza opened her door to her room, which was dark because the lights were off. "Mother, we need to talk about something." She looked across the room and saw her mother wasn't in bed. She was by the window looking out toward the city. It was surprising to see her out of bed, "Mother!"

She ran to her side and noticed that her mother was gazing up at the stars. "A little birdie told me you were seeing someone. Is this true?"

Eliza's eyes widened as she thought that Bobby might have told her mother about Giera. Whether before or after what had happened at dinner she was uncertain.

"Well I'm glad to hear that you finally found someone you could see." she smiled. She began to cough violently.

"Mother!" she helped her into bed as the coughing subsided and her mother started to appear weaker than before. "Hang on, I'll get you your medicine and-"

Her mother grabbed her arm, "No." Her breathing was different and seemed weaker than before. "Don't push yourself anymore...I'm at my limit."

"Don't say that!" Eliza edged closer to her side, "Just hang on, I'm sure if I give you your medicine you'll be just as good as before!" Tears started to fall from her eyes. "Tomorrow we were supposed to see the botanic gardens together, for your birthday."

Her mother smiled faintly, "All I wanted...was for you to go out on your own. You're old enough to take care of yourself, you never needed to take care of me for this long. Master was...always kind to us, he would of taken care of me even if you weren't here. I saw something different in him that was different from any human I've known. He really loved us both." She coughed for a bit before continuing, "Now...go on and do something for yourself."

Her eyes closed for the last time. Eliza could feel the warmth from her body disappear as a cold-like feeling came to her. "Mother..." She nuzzled against her as tears fell from her. The moment was full of silence like a piece of time was lost so that she could embrace her one last time.

After a moment she heard someone from the window. She turned around and there was Giera. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Eliza's sad face turned into anger as she shouted, "Why'd you come back!? After what you've done to me tonight how can you just come in here!? Have you come to mock me!? Tell me that what you said were lies and that you wanted a free meal!? That this was a set-up to get the book as well!? Because of you my mother is dead and master will never forgive me what I did with you! Just get out of my sight! Just leave me alone!"

He walked over to her like he had something to say, "Perhaps there's something you should know. While I did steal the book, I didn't actually steal it from your young master. Rather I stole it from the one who stole it first."

He reached into his bag that he was carrying on him and pulled out the book. He handed to her and she was surprised by him giving it back. "Wh...what are you doing?"

"I told you before, I don't like to steal things that make people cry. But some people find it more pleasurable, much like that woman."

Eliza's eyes widened, "No...it couldn't be!"

-----------------

Earlier that day, Colette walked into Bobby's room and found his book on top of his desk. It was on the center like it was being read. There were other books stacked on top of each other to the side that seemed like they were untouched. She picked up the book and stared at it. "The Philosophy of Dueling. Humph. This kid doesn't need to be dwelling into something like this. He should be studying for much better things outside of a child's game." She thought for a moment and grinned, "Perhaps until he's more responsible in his studies I could use this."

She walked out of the room with the book. Unbeknownst to her she was being watched by Giera, who was peeking through the window.

-----------------

"I didn't think she would want to use this as a way to getting you into trouble." said Giera.

Eliza began to clutch the book tightly like she was starting to get angry. On the same day after she and Colette met, she wasn't liked by her for a reason she did not understand. "So...you never came back to steal from us, but from her. That...that..." she wanted to say something really bad about Colette and began to snarl. "How could she? What did I ever do to her? Why did she have to go and do that to us!? Why!?"

She fell into Giera's arms and cried into his chest like it was her only way to let out her emotions. The two stand there like that for awhile as she continued to cry. Afterwards he finally speaks up, "So what are you going to do now?"

"I...I don't know." she wept, "I don't know what to think anymore."

"Well...as you told me, with this you're now free to do whatever you want. But given the circumstance anything could happen if you stay here. You could return the book to your master and hope you're forgiven, or you might still be punished. You could be forced to leave anyway or you would be forced to stay. If you stay you will have to put up with that woman the rest of your life and if you leave you'll be leaving some people you might have loved. There's a lot that could happen."

She scowled after hearing everything he said, "I know one thing, as long as I'm here that woman will continue to do those terrible things. Not just to me but young master. I'm too scared to tell master anything after what happened but...I just can't stand how he could tolerate her after that."

"What will you do?"

She backed up a bit and stared at the book. "I want her to pay for this. I want this thing taken somewhere far away that when she finally decides to try and return it, she won't be able to. She'll see that her theft would cost her everything, just as it did me!"

He stared blankly at her like he knew that that would be wrong. A young woman like Eliza has had her heart shattered by another and she wasn't thinking like she normally would.

"Please..." she looked up at him with tears in her eyes and her mouth quivering, "Help me..."

He placed his paws on her shoulders and said, "Rather than you stealing it, how about I steal it for you? And maybe you with me." Her eyes watered as she faced toward her mother.

-----------------

Minutes passed as Aston approached her door. She slowly raised the back of his hand to the door and knocked on it. "Eliza?" It slowly began to open and she wasn't there. Her window was open and it was the first thing he saw, "Eliza!" He ran to the window and looked downward. There was no trace of her at all.

He turned to her mother who was still in the bed after her death. "Delilah! Delilah wake up!" He rushed to her bedside and placed his hand on her head. There was a cold feeling that he felt as he placed his head on her chest. "No...Delilah!"

Bobby stood outside of the doorway. He had no idea what exactly went on or where Eliza went. "Where...where is Eliza?" His father came over to him and hugged him, "She's somewhere. We'll find her, don't you worry. We'll bring her back."

-----------------

Far outside of city grounds, Giera and Eliza took one last look back at Sanjaya as she knew this was the last time she would see it. In her arms was the book that she read to Bobby the night before, which was stolen from them by the woman of Aston's life and now was taken by Giera.

-----------------

"13 years certainly was a long time ago." Eliza thought as her memories began to fade away from her mind. She placed her paw on top of the book as the image of Bobby began to fill her head. "I wonder how you're doing?"

-----------------

Somewhere within a dark swamp-like forest was an outpost that had a bar inside. A man in a black-metallic suit and a black helmet with a red 'X' on the front entered the bar. There were beastian inside the bar who were sitting around and drinking with each other. As he entered they stared at him as they knew that he was human. He approached the front counter where a large bear beastian was waiting for his next customer.

"What do you want, stranger?" the bartender asked. He appeared rather frightening as if he was in a bad mood.

Through the red 'X' shaped visor on his helmet, the man pierced into his eyes with his own. His eyes were cold like he was in a much bigger bad mood than the bartender. "I want the best 'juice' you got."

The bartender turned an eye like he wasn't sure what he was up against and then proceeded to grab a glass and fill it up with an alcoholic beverage. He slammed it on the table which caused the top of the drink to spill slightly. "Whatcha needing to know?"

The man looked up at him and continued to stare. His voice was cold and harsh like he didn't care much for what he had to do, "I want to find a murderer." He pulled out a picture from his pocket and placed it on the table. "They call him Giera the Shadow Thief."

Overhearing the name, everyone in the bar focused their gaze on him. The bartender laughed, "Him!? Why last I heard he was locked up in the dungeons of Arcum! Supposively they caught him seven years ago but never released the information outside the city! Guess they didn't think it was important to release something that no one from 10 years ago would care for!"

"Why is that?"

"I heard he gave up his life of crime in that time. Supposively to raise a family I heard, but I haven't heard anything else. But if anything you'll find him in Arcum." The man got up and turned to leave. "Hey wait! You aren't actually thinking of going after him are you!? Arcum is supposed to have a tight security, you'll never be able to reach him inside the dungeon!"

The man stopped for a moment and replied, "I'll find a way." He exited the bar and walked down the bridge that spanned across the swamp. "Not even jail can keep him from me."

To Be Continued...


	4. The Muirenn Dueling Tournament

_(A/N: Hiatus over, back to the fic..and I still can't figure out how to set the page separators on here. No matter what I do they don't seem to work.)_

**Chapter 4: The Muirenn Dueling Tournament**

The sun was high in the sky above a lush grass field. A duel was going on by a tree on top of a hill. The duel was between Meo and Ayami who were using Duel Disks to duel with. Meo had Guardian Angel Kasket (ATK 2600) and a face-down card on his field while Ayami had Nin-Ken Dog (ATK 1800) and a face-down card on her field.  
(Meo: 1400 LP/Ayami: 3300 LP)

"Alright! My turn now!" Ayami declared as she drew her card. She placed the card in her hand and picked up another from her hand as she eyed Meo with confidence, "Get ready, because it's time for me to show you two more aspects to dueling. Control and counter. I activate the Spell card Brain Control! By paying 800 Life Points I can take control of a face-up monster on your field!"  
(Ayami: 3300 LP - 800 = 2500 LP)

A large brain appeared on the field as two ghostly arms floated over to Meo's monster and grabbed it. "What!" Meo gasped. He wasn't expecting to see his monster pulled over to Ayami's field. "My monster is..."

"Under my control now." she finished. "Never forget that your opponent can use cards that take control of other monsters. Now let's see how you respond to such a play." She motioned her arm outward as she declared her attack. "Now Guardian Angel Kasket, direct attack!"

Kasket flew up into the air with his wings spread out widely. The sun was blocked out like it was being eclipse. He threw his spear down as his attack points dropped (ATK 2600 - ATK 1600). Meo reached for the button on his Duel Disk that would trigger his face-down card but hesitated to push it. He looked at Kasket and imagined his father's figure over him. After what was a moment the attack connected and he fell backward as his Life Points dropped.  
(Meo: 1400 LP - 1600 = 0 LP)

Ayami moaned as she felt disappointed from the outcome of the duel. She had hoped for a response on the final turn after spending days working with him on the basic mechanics. She walked over to him and offered her hand out, "You alright?"

"Uh huh." Meo grabbed her hand and she pulled him up.

"May I see the card you had face-down?" Meo pulled the card out of his Duel Disk and handed it to her. The card was Mirror Force. "I thought so. You could of used this to buy yourself another turn, so why didn't you?"

"Well...I really want to but-" he looked toward the ground slightly as he felt ashamed about earlier, "I couldn't do it. Not to my papa's card."

Ayami sighed as she knelt down to his level. "I know it must be hard dealing with something that precious to you. But you gotta understand that in a real duel you can't let it overshadow your ability to play. Besides, it's never like you are losing it, just as long as you know that the monster wouldn't be going down in vain. Treating your monsters with respect comes to even having to cut them down in such a case. But beside that, I wanted to show you the aspect of a real 'counter'."

She pulled out the card from her Duel Disk that she had not used in her duel and she showed it to Meo. "A Trap card?" The card was Trap Jammer. He looked at it like he had never seen it before. It appeared to be like any other Trap card but there was something different about it.

"Trap Jammer is a Counter Trap." she explained, "It can only be activated during the Battle Phase. It negates the activation of a Trap card you activate and destroys it. We've gone over how Normal Traps and Continuous Traps work, so now we'll talk about how Counter Traps work."

"Counter Traps?"

"That's right." she nodded. "Counter Traps are Trap cards that can only be activated when certain conditions are met. However when activated, the only way to counter it is with another Counter Trap. You see as I explained to you earlier, Normal Spells can be countered by any kind of Trap card or Quick-Play Spell card. Then excluding Counter Traps any kind of Trap card or Quick-Play Spell card can be countered by either another of those cards. However Counter Traps will always be able to counter any of those, which means when it comes to Chains you can expect Counter Traps to be the decisive chain breakers."

Meo moaned like he didn't understand much of what she said.

"Well let me try and put it this way and you can study it on your own." She pulled out a small booked that was labeled 'Duel Monsters: Rule Book' from her bag and flipped through the pages until she found a section she wanted. She showed the page to him as she pointed out the section, "All this can be explained through Spell Speed. All the different card types are listed under each Spell Speed, and it always goes like this. Spell Speed 1 is dominated by Spell Speed 2 and 3, Spell Speed 2 is dominated by Spell Speed 3, and Spell Speed 3 can only be dominated by another from that class."

"Ahh..." Meo grabbed the book and started to read it.

Ayami smiled, "That should cover everything on the basic stuff. Now how about lunch?"

Meo nodded agreeingly.

The two sat together under the tree as they ate lunch. Ayami was eating a sandwich while Meo was chewing on a fish. The shade was on top of them and the breeze brushed them gently as the day went on.

"Well Meo I gotta say, but I pretty much taught you everything there is to playing the game. From here on it's up to you to find out all the best moves and strategies you can come up with, along with any cards you collect."

Meo swallowed chuncks of his fish and looked toward Ayami. "Does this mean you're going to be leaving?"

Ayami looked up toward the blue open sky with uncertainty in her eyes. "Well I do have my duties in the military, I can't be sticking around in the back country for too long. I promised to teach you how to duel and I have. There's not much I can do beside maybe coaching but still..."

"Oh..." Meo looked forward disappointingly. He knew that she would have to leave him sooner or later and after what seemed like a short time. "Does this mean we won't see each other anymore?"

She appeared surprised to hear him say that. She immediately smiled and patted him on the head, "No no, I wouldn't say that. I could still visit you on occasion. And maybe if you're a good little boy I'll probably bring you some gifts from the city. Maybe some new cards since you're probably money-tight around here."

Meo looked back up at her and was feeling more cheerful after hearing her say that. "Thank you."

"In fact..."

The sun was beginning to set upon Meo's home. The chirping wild birds were starting to become overshadowed by the sound of crickets.

"You want to take him to Muirenn?" Eliza exclaimed. She was cleaning plates after the dinner they had earlier. Meo was sitting at the table with Ayami as she was talking with Eliza.

"That's right." Ayami replied. "You see they hold local Duel Monsters Tournaments there every few weeks so I was thinking that I could take him there to compete in them. It won't cost you that much, heck I'll even pay for him."

Eliza placed the plate in the water-filled sink. "It's not money I'm concerned with, I'm more concerned for Meo. He's not used to being around people, and while I know you've got him used to being with children I just don't know how he'll be with an entire town."

Meo was turning his head back and forth as the two voiced what they wanted to say.

"I know that. I don't want to force you or Meo to do this, but I want to take him there at least once just to know what it's like. If he doesn't like it then that will be it."

"I don't know..."

Ayami stood up and looked at her seriously, "All I ask is to let me take him just this once. If he isn't happy with what happens then I won't bring him there anymore. I just want him to see that there's more to just playing with children. As a duelist he has the right to be able to duel new people and compete in tournaments. But at his age I can't really force it on him so it's up to you."

Eliza was silent as she thought about what to do. She then turned to Meo and said, "It's really up to Meo. He's old enough to make his decisions so if he really wants to go then I will allow it."

"So how about it?" asked Ayami as she faced Meo.

Meo groaned as he thought about what they've said. He thought about the number of people he would be around if they went to the town. The people in the human village he could handle but he had no idea if the people in the town were any similar. He also knew though that he had to at least try and compete in the tournament.

"Well?"

"Well..." Meo started to say, "If it means I'll become a better duelist then...I'll go."

Ayami smiled brightly, "Then it's settled! I'll come pick you up first thing in the morning. Don't sleep in too long since I'll be here slightly early. It's a long-way to Muirenn so rest up!" She grabbed her long bag next to her and waved as she made her way to the door, "I'll see you tomorrow!" She then left the two as she left the house.

"Mama."

"Yes Meo?" Eliza replied as she tucked Meo into bed.

"Do you think they'll like me as a duelist? I mean Ayami said that there hasn't been a beastian who had lasted long enough to be recognized as a true duelist."

His eyes seemed to twinkle as she looked into his eyes. She calmly smiled and said, "I'm sure they will."

"There's going to be a lot more people than I'm used to. I don't know if they'll like me or if they're any friendly. I'm kinda nervous, but if it's the only way to become a duelist..."

She lightly kissed him on the head as she pulled the blanket closer to his neck. "You can be whatever you want as long as you keep that in your mind. Don't let anyone try to stop you." She stood up and proceeded to walk out of the room, "Good night Meo."

Meo yawned and turned to the side as he started to slowly fall asleep. He began to dream of what it would be like to duel like a true duelist.

Inside a large stadium there were hundreds of people lined up in their seats waiting for the start of a epic duel. The lights were bright enough to light the whole sky and the sound of excitement filled the air as they await the moment they've been waiting for.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" the voice of the MC boomed from seemingly no where, "OUR UPCOMING CHAMPION, MMMMMMEEEEEOOOOOOOO!"

Clouds of smoke filled the right side of the center ring as Meo appeared from the smoke. He turned to the audience and waved at them as they cheered loudly for him. On the left side his opponent appeared concealed in shadow. He had already summoned his monster, which appeared to be Humanoid Worm Drake.

"Come on out!" Meo declared as he drew his card and placed it on his Duel Disk without looking at it, "Kasket!" His trustful angel monster appeared on the field and in one mighty swoop he flew up into the air and threw his spear down at the monster, shattering it into many pieces.

"OUR WINNER! MMMMEEEEOOOOO!"

Meo and Kasket started to wave toward the audience as they cheered more loudly than before. Afterwards a dark shadow lingered behind the two. They turned around to see a tall horned monster covered in shadow.

"I summon a monster!" Meo declared as he drew another card and placed it on the Duel Disk without looking at it. As he did however, light began to emit brightly from the card, causing the people in the audience to scream and run away as a large winged being in shadow appeared in front of Meo. He cowered in fear like he's never seen such a monster before. It was bigger than Kasket and just as big as the monster he was trying to defeat.

"Wh...what! What is..." he exclaimed as the monster turned around and expanded its wings as widely as it could. It then started to wrap its wings around Meo as the monster seemed to merge with him in like a quick flash.

"Ah!" he yelled as he woke up. He breathed heavily as he noticed that it was morning out. The sun was brightly shining on him as he turned toward the window. He shielded his eyes as he moaned like if he had woken up for only a moment.

"Meo! Time to wake up!" Eliza yelled from outside his room.

Meo moaned as he got of bed. He looked toward his drawer where he had kept his cards and wondered, "That was...strange."

Eliza wrapped up a small box with a light green handkerchief and handed it to Meo. "Now you be a good little kitten and listen to everything Ayami says."

"Okay." he nodded.

"Please take good care of him."

Ayami nodded cheerfully, "Of course. Don't you worry a thing,-" She started to wrap an arm around Meo playfully as she continued, "-the next time you see him he'll be a new beastian!"

"Well...I guess I'll see you later tonight."

Meo hugged his mother for a moment as he said, "Bye mama."

As Meo and Ayami walked toward the door, Eliza waved at them. "Take care!" After they had left the house she took a seat at her kitchen table and stared toward the wall. She sighed as she crossed her arms and laid her head on the table. "I really hope he'll be alright."

Ayami and Meo crossed an open field as they reached a dirt road. They could hear the wild birds chirping around them as they walked down the road. There were also the sounds of wild frogs croaking from ponds along the road.

Meo was looking back toward the direction of his home while walking forward on the road. He appeared concerned about leaving to a place he had never been to before. From the past few days he would head southeast to the human village with Ayami to play with the children there and today he was going to somewhere different.

"Um...Ayami?"

"Yeah?" she turned toward him as she walked forward.

Meo faced in her direction and said worringly, "Will this place be any different from the human village you take me to? Other than there being more people?"

"Well not entirely different, just that there are more of everything. However as far as duelists are concerned, that's a whole different story."

"What do you mean?"

She raised a finger like she was about to explain something in detail. "Well you see, Muirenn is located by the sea. It acts as a major trade town from this country to all the other countries in the world. People from all over come here, including duelists. And it's at towns like these that provide a much wider selection of Duel Monsters cards. What you might get in the villages you would go to would have a limited selection. Muirenn has a bit more to choose from but it's still limited. Then take guys like Gabe. He had cards that would be impossible to come by in a human village. Cards like Monster Reborn or Lycanthrope would only come from booster packs or promotion deals."

"You mean..." his voice started to sound like he was frightened, "Everyone will be like Gabe?"

"Well metaphorically speaking, they would be just as strong as him since they have better cards. Level wise it's like they're a step-up from duelists who rely on cards from villages. However they of course are a step-down from city duelists like myself, but remember, it doesn't matter where you come as anyone can beat any type of duelist."

"Really?"

"Ah." she nodded. "It's all about how you play, what cards you have, and the kind of luck you have. Because even if your deck is strong, if it gets messed up you might be facing dead draws. So anything is possible. But just remember, you're here to have fun. You can only improve by dueling and learning from those experiences, even if they are losses."

Meo looked down for a moment before looking straight forward with a much more confident look on his face. "Mm."

The sun's rays blazed down as a cool wind blew in their direction. As they scaled a tall grassy hill Meo started to tire from walking after so long. His tongue stuck out as he was out of breath.

"Alright, almost there!" said Ayami cheerfully as she stopped at the top of the hill.

Meo sat down to catch his breath. They've been walking for hours and it seemed like they've been going on forever.

Ayami pointed her finger toward the direction they were going and said, "Look! You can see Muirenn from here!"

Meo looked toward where Muirenn was and was suddenly in awe from what he saw. It appeared to be a very large town that he had never seen before. The buildings weren't made like how villages were made for the ones in town were made out of a different kind of stone. They were also bigger than the ones he's used to. The whole town was surrounded by a large wall which connected to the ocean that was just behind the town.

"Woah..."

Ayami pulled him up to his feet as she said, "Come on!" They began to run toward the town.

The inside of Muirenn was also very different from how the village was to Meo. The streets were made out of very fine cobblestone and granite setts. Tall black lamp-posts lined up along the streets along with trees planted in grass spots along the streets. A canal ran through half the town that seemed to separate the general areas with the sea port and beach areas.

Many market owners opened up to the people who come by their stands for their merchandise. Many of them settled their business close to the main entrance to the town as they began to call out to Meo and Ayami to check out their products. Meo clung to Ayami not wanting to get close to anyone else.

"Oh it's alright." she told him, "They aren't going to hurt you."

Among the crowds there were people who noticed the two and mumbled amongst each other. Ayami paid no mind to it but soon people started to get close to them.

"Why isn't he just adorable?" a lady came up to them. "Is he yours?"

Ayami tried to keep a smile but was too embarrassed from her question, "No, no. He's just a friend I'm watching."

The lady leaned toward Meo who hid himself more closely to Ayami, "But he sure looks cute. I've never seen such a cute little kitten this color before."

"Well they aren't very common around here are they..."

The lady reached out her hand to Meo like she was going to pet him, "May I..." Meo moved back slightly.

"Sorry, he's not very good with people. This is his first time being here and with this many people."

"Oh that's too bad." said the lady as she stood up. "So why bring him here?"

Ayami gave a straight cheerful face, "We're here to enter the Duel Monsters tournament." The lady was surprised as she finished, "Come on Meo, let's not take too long."

As she and Meo walked away, the lady started to wonder about what had happened and what it meant. "She doesn't really mean the two of them...does she?"

The two arrived at a small warehouse-like building that was located near a large green park. In front of the small doorway was a stand where two men in white lab coats sat there while sorting through their papers which had everyone participating in the tournament. There was a sign above them that said 'Registration'.

"Hi there." Ayami greeted them as she and Meo approached them. "We're here for the tournament."

The suited man on the left turned his gaze toward the two after placing the papers down in front of him. After examining them from a distance he shook his head, "I'm sorry Miss, but this area is for duelists and card merchants only. If you want to see the tournament as a spectator, you and your child will have to reserve a seat in the park."

Ayami cheeks turned red in embarrassment. The man had told her that Meo was her child which was not true. Her expression changed as she corrected him, "He's not...err...I mean we are duelists! We're here to participate."

The suited man on the right looked up and gazed at the two. He adjusted his glasses upon setting his sight on Meo. "Well you I could understand but...isn't he a little young to be dueling?"

"Not to mention...does he even know how to duel?" the suited man on the left asked.

"Of course he does." Ayami applied, "Just because he's kitten doesn't mean he can't duel. Now are you going to let us in or not?"

"Well...I'm not really against it." the suited man on the right said as he twittered around with his thumbs. "However..."

"Yes?"

"Well it's just that with children, especially of his kind, you never know what to expect. To be entering these type of competitions and losing could really affect them a lot."

Ayami's smile returned as she understood what he was trying to hide. "Oh I get it. You're just afraid you'll lose another customer since it's one less pocket you'd be picking."

The man was startled and nearly lost his words. He couldn't argue with that fact. Even if it was Meo he was still a customer in Duel Monsters.

"So...no more objections I take it?"

"Umm...right then, let's see..." he flipped through his papers until he found a spot on the sign-in sheet to write their names. "So will you be paying separately or for you both?"

"I'll be paying for the both of us." Ayami replied as she pulled out a small money purse from her backpack. Meo gazed back and forth between Ayami talking and the suited man on the right signing them in.

"So then...what would your name be?"

"Sukioh Ayami."

"Eh!" the man dropped his pen. He and his partner were both shocked from hearing that name said to them. They acted as if they heard it before. "Su...Sukioh Ayami? But...aren't you already..."

He tried to finish his words but they were jumbled up in his mouth trying to get out. Meo was especially curious seeing them act like this and wondered what was going on.

"Tell them I'm here just for fun, this has nothing to do with the King's Cup."

"R...right!"

The inside of the building was large and full of activity. There were a large crowd of duelists running around and mixed with them were merchants who had set up stands along the walls of the interior to buy and sell their cards. Eight tables were lined up by four on two different sides of the room and there were duelists there playing Duel Monsters on the table tops.

"So amazing..." Meo looked around in awe. He had never seen so many duelists in one area.

Ayami walked up next to him and pointed out toward one of the card stands, "Why don't we go see what they have for sale before we make some last minute adjustments to your deck?"

"Adjustments?" Meo wondered.

"Yep. Since this is a town your variety of card choices pretty much improve from just village cards. Here you have a better line of cards, but of course they're more expensive than in the villages. That's why I'm going to trade in my old un-used cards for some good ones that you might use. If we're really lucky we might find someone who goes by variety, and when you're from the city you can get away with..." she spotted one stand in particular that said 'Buy and Trade' and she gave a light shout, "There we go!"

She tugged Meo across the room. As they passed by the many duelists who were either here to participate in the tournament or just purchase cards not found in stores, Meo paid close attention to those dueling on the tables. He noticed how much fun they were having and how fierce the battles seemed even though no holograms were used. He almost smiled thinking that he wished he could be dueling with them.

"Alright, here we go." Ayami released Meo and said, "Wait right here while I pick out some good cards for you." She turned around and gazed down at the glass where the cards were. "Now let's see..."

As she browsed through the cards, Meo overheard something going on behind him. His ears picked up the sound of people cheering over at the table not too far from him, where a kid in his teens with poofy-green hair in glasses was dueling another kid who appeared to be 17.

This kid had golden brown hair that seemed like it could be a mane as it stretched down to his abdomen and bangs reaching close to his chin. His skin was of a light tan color while his eyes were bright blue. He was wearing a red and blue blazer which seemed to have been ripped off its sleeves as it appeared he was wearing a black long undershirt while wearing white long-leather pants. He was also wearing silver-lined wrist-bands around his wrists that seemed like real silver and shined off the sun's light beaming through the windows above.

"Heh." grinned the green-haired kid, "You made a big mistake leaving your monster out like that, Marcus."

Meo pulled himself up to where he was on his toes, just so he could see the duel going on. On the green-haired kid's field were Spirit of the Harp in defense mode and a face-down monster. On Marcus' field was only a monster and a face-down Spell or Trap. His monster though was Beast King Barbaros, which had a picture that seemed prismatic like the text in its name. Meo awed over how the card seemed to sparkle as he moved his eyes around it.

"Your monster might be special enough to be summoned like that, but it just leaves it open for my monster. My turn!" the kid drew his card and grinned widely. "I release both of my monsters so I can Advance Summon the Tri-Horned Dragon!"

"Ohh." Meo was amazed by the new monster which had almost a same kind of holographic picture as Marcus' monster.

"Heh heh heh. Unlike your monster now, mine has 2850 attack points, making it the strongest monster in the region!" he gloated. Marcus was unphased and kept a calm expression on his face which was neither joy or concern. The kid pointed toward him as he continued, "Your monster only has 3000 attack points when summoned correctly, but you chose to rush me! As a result your monster is in its weakened state, waiting to be devoured by a real monster! Now, I attack with Tri-Horned Dragon!" He inched the card up a bit with his fingers.

Marcus smirked as his calm serious face changed into a more confident one. "That it, Jens? No special surprise for me? I thought you had something interesting to show around, but it looks like you're just doing the same thing again."

Jens scowled as if here were mocked, "My monster is a Secret Rare card only found within the very first card expansion. It is considered to be the strongest Normal Monster at the moment so you better not question its power."

"Whatever man." Marcus flipped over his face-down card. "I activate Sakuretsu Armor."

"The hell?" exclaimed Jens.

"This Trap card destroys any attacking monster. Which means Tri-Horned Dragon is destroyed."

The crowd was wowed by his move as if they never seen that kind of move before. Jens raised his voice, "What the hell kind of Common card is that! I've never heard of it before!"

Marcus gave a light smile and explained, "Isn't it obvious? There are card sets we haven't gotten yet, and that the University gives out to tournament winners like myself. If you were around the other week ago, you would of seen me win a box of booster packs from one of the University's card expansion sets from the city. Funny thing, this set comes after the current set this town has."

Jens was at a loss of words. He had worked so hard to get a strong monster out only to be destroyed by a single common card.

"Wow..." Meo sighed. His tail swayed back and forth from the excitement he was having from the duel.

"Okay, this is good." Ayami commentted as she held up a handful of cards in her hand. Her eyes caught climpse of one card on the very bottom shelf under the glass table. "Hey...this card is perfect for his deck! But it looks like they made it an Ultra-Rare card here. That's just weird."

"You find something good?" said the merchant who looked over his newly acquired cards he got from trading.

"You give an Ultra-Rare or higher for an Ultra-Rare, right?"

"Of course." he placed the cards he received in his pocket as Ayami pulled out a deck of cards from her backpack.

"Let's see..." she shifted through the cards of her deck until she found the card she was looking for. "How about I trade you this Prismatic Secret Rare for it?" She held out a Seiyaryu card in view of the merchant. It's holographic text and picture glittered like the many holographic cards like it.

The merchant's mouth dropped in awe. "Wow...that be perfect!"

"My turn." Marcus declared as he drew his card. He smiled as he placed the card on the field, "First I summon Battle Ox to the field. Now, since you were hoping to have been defeated by something with a little more class, here's another card I happened to have gotten off a trade, Megamorph!"

"An Ultra-Rare card?" Jens exclaimed worringly.

"Yep. If my Life Points are less than yours then the equipped monster's original attack points are doubled. If my Life Points are more than yours then they get halved. Since that small dent to my Life Points dropped me to where it's lower than yours, Barbaros' attack points become 3800!"

"D...dammit!" Jens cried out in his mind.

Marcus grinned with glee as he had won. "Which means you lose. Better luck next time!"

"Tch. That won't be long though. I'll have another shot when this tournament kicks off and I beat you for sure!"

Just then a woman in her teens with long-red hair and a blazer that appeared similar to Marcus' appeared. She leaned her shoulders against Marcus and commentted, "Oh please, brother. You've been saying that since you first met him, and that's been like 5 years ago?"

"Zip it Jenna!" Jens shouted, "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Oh calm down you two." Marcus chuckled, "It's all in good fun anyway, it's not like we were really trying that time."

Jens rolled his eyes, "Speak for yourself..." He caught a glimpse of Meo who was watching Marcus put away the cards he had out back into his deck. "Hey kid."

Meo heard him calling him out and he turned to face him. The expression on Jens' face seemed cold and scary like he had the impression that Meo was a pest.

"You're not a duelist, are you?" he said coldly.

Meo started to shake nervously as his words seemed to frighten him aside from his cold-hearted expression. He noticed that Marcus had a similar expression but was only serious and frightening.

"This isn't a place for children." Marcus said in a manner that was serious but not really cold. "If you've come to play the playground is outside. If you're not careful you could get hurt."

Meo started to back up in fear. He failed to notice someone standing behind him as he bumped into him. Meo looked up and noticed he had bumped into another person who turned his head. He glared back at him with stern eyes and a serious expression on his face.

He appeared to be 18 and had dark green hair with a pony-tail on the back of his head. He wore a white and grayish samurai garb and on his waist he had a sword that was sheathed.

"All done Meo!" Ayami turned as Meo came running behind her as to hide like he usually had. In front of her was the samurai-dressed man who turned his attention to her. She recognized that person anywhere and called out to him, "Zeke! Hey there!"

"Zeke is here?" Marcus muttered, knowing who he was and was surprised that he was even here.

Meo peeked from behind Ayami and asked, "You know him?"

"Of course." she nodded, "He's a good friend of mine. I've known him since we were kids."

Zeke walked up to her as Meo hid more of his face behind her. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Heh. That's what I was going to say." Ayami giggled. "I mean, what's a guy like you doing all the way out here?"

"Hey, Zeke!" Marcus called out as he, Jens and Jenna walked up behind him. Zeke turned his head slightly with an eye glared toward them. "Didn't think you would show up here. You here to duel in the tournament as well?" Marcus grinned and punched his own right hand, "How about a little one-on-one with me?"

Zeke stared somewhat coldly like he wasn't interested in his offer. "I left my deck at home, otherwise I would." Marcus felt disappointed like Zeke wasn't really being serious about it. Zeke turned his gaze back at Ayami as to continue their conversation. "Actually I was passing through here when the University asked me to stick around and help promote their tournament. So why are you here?"

"Well I'm here under exhibition, just so I can be with my new little friend who I'm helping becoming a great duelist." She notioned her hand toward Meo as to reference him.

"Him?"

Meo peeked out from behind Ayami and looked up at him with curious eyes. To Zeke he was just a shy little kid who probably couldn't hold a card while people are around.

"Humph. Aren't you rushing things by bringing him here?" Zeke said in a serious tone. Ayami was surprised by his words as he continued, "He won't make it to first round. He's way too young to be playing here."

"Wha...what are you saying?" Ayami couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Look at him Ayami. He's obviously very timid and doesn't get along with others. Plus if someone like him were to go out there and lose, he might be traumatized with the failure of never being able to become the duelist he wants."

Ayami was starting to feel upset over his harsh words as even Meo felt ashamed for just being timid. "You don't know him though! You haven't seen him duel, he can duel well and I'm only helping him see what being a duelist is like!"

"You're pushing him too quickly. I'm only saying this for his own good, if you want him to get better then you mustn't get him involved in these type of competitions until he's absolutely sure of himself. It's not that I don't expect anything from his kind, but even he should take things slowly if he ever hopes to be like us. Now if you may excuse me..." he calmly walked away as Ayami watched like she was steaming.

"Ayami?" Meo spoke up, "Is what he said true? Am I really too timid to be a duelist?"

Ayami turned and knelt down to his level. "No, I don't think you are. He just talks like that to everyone. Deep down I'm sure he would like to see you be a good duelist too. He just seems harsh though." Meo looked down slightly like he still wasn't sure of himself while Ayami thought, "Though it's not like he was always this harsh..."

"So you are a duelist!" said Marcus. Ayami and Meo turned their attention to him as he and his friends came up to them. Marcus had a friendly expression on his face and a smile to match. "This should be interesting, right? I never got to face a duelist who was beastian."

Meo was awed by how he was acting toward him. Earlier he thought Marcus to be scary but now it was like he was really being nice toward him with no hostility at all.

"Don't mind that Zeke guy, he doesn't know the kind of potential new duelists could have. I'm sure you'll be good enough to take him on one day. Heck you might even be good enough to take me!" he chuckled.

"Not before me I hope..." thought Jens to himself.

Marcus knelt down and offered out his hand, "The name's Marcus by the way. Marcus Sharpclaw."

Meo was hesitant at first but he soon reached out and shook his paw with him. "M...Meo."

Marcus grinned and chuckled. "I wish you luck Meo." He stood up and turned his head to his friends, "Come on, let's get ready for the qualification rounds." They walked back to the table they were from.

Meo slowly started to feel different from watching Marcus act. It was like meeting Ayami for the first time. He wasn't afraid of him anymore but was rather comfortable with him around. Just like with Ayami it was as if he could get along with Marcus better than other people around him.

"Sharpclaw huh?" Ayami thought to herself as a smile emerged on her face. "That's an unusual last name for someone like him." She faced Meo and said, "Let's go, I got some cards I want to integrate into your deck."

"Okay." As she walked him to another table he kept his gaze on Marcus who was starting to modify his deck along side his friends. A smile creeped on his face like he was interested in seeing Marcus more.

Ayami laid out ten cards in front of Meo, who had his deck on the table as well. "Okay! I managed to get you some cards that can replace a bunch of your monsters while still keeping to your theme of Fairy monsters. They're a lot stronger than most of them and of course I picked up a few new Spell and Trap cards too. Like here,-" she held up one of the cards on the table, "-this is Wingweaver. It's a Level 7 monster so it will take 2 monsters to summon it. Think of it as a stronger version of Guardian Angel Kasket since it's attack points are always 2750. It can beat a lot of the normal monsters that take 2 monsters to summon."

Meo grabbed the card and looked at it while Ayami held up another card.

"And this one is Rush Recklessly. It's a Quick-Play Spell that increases a monster's attack points by 700. Very handy when you need to take down a monster either in an attack or as a surprise when they attack you." She picked up another card as Meo eyed another card on the table, "And this one is Shift..."

"What's this one?" Meo asked as he stared at the card he was holding.

"Oh that? That's just a little something that can greatly benefit off your monsters. See with the two monsters I got you here, you could bring this guy out and he'll be able to..."

"But it doesn't look anything like an angel to me." said Meo, seemingly disappointed from looking at the card.

"I know I know, but really consider this one. It's a Fairy-type monster so it fits well into your deck. Plus think of it like this, if you were someone who believes in angels, then perhaps you could relate to this guy? I mean look at the way he dresses, don't you think he's a real worshipper to them?"

"Well..."

"You think about it. For now at least put these other cards in your deck." She sat down next to him as she picked up his deck, "Now let's see what we can swap out."

"Alright everyone, listen up!" A man in a white lab coat and glasses that appeared to be white lens and have swirls on them appeared and shouted through a megaphone. "We will be beginning the qualification rounds! Please get to your designated table and we will begin the explanations!"

Ayami and Meo overheard his announcement while they were in the middle of their deck tune-up. "Rats." said Ayami disappointingly, "Oh well, this will have to do for now. Maybe next time-" She started to put Meo's deck back together as she got up, "-we'll have more time to put every card into your deck."

"Where are you going?" asked Meo.

"I'm assigned to Table 7, which is just next to yours. You stay on this table and listen to whatever the man says, okay? I'll be right here if you need me." Meo nodded as Ayami walked over to her table and sat on the bench.

Every duelist in the room gathered at their respective tables. Marcus was at Table 1 while Jenna was at Table 2. Jens was at Table 3 and Ayami was at Table 7. Meo was alone at Table 8 while everyone else was at different tables.

The man in the lab coat held out a clipboard with paper clipped to it as he announced to everyone, "Okay! With the set-up we have, we will be doing this the normal way! You play everyone at your table and the one with the best score will proceed to the main tournament! There should be 6 to a table so..." As he glanced over to all the tables he noticed Table 8 had only one person there. He adjusted his glasses like it was casual of him while being dumbfounded by Meo's presence. "Um...this isn't right."

"What is it?" Another man in a lab coat asked as he walked over to the glasses man.

"There's only one duelist here. Or...is he?"

The man in the lab coat looked at Meo and said, "There's no mistake. I had him registered under the name Meo Lightfoot so he's definitely a duelist."

"Are you sure there aren't any more because this is just awkward..."

While they talked to each other, Meo looked on and wondered if he was being a problem to them.

"Alright." the glasses man nodded, "We'll do it that way then." The other man walked away as he turned his attention to everyone else. "It would seem we are short people on Table 8! However we are on a tight schedule so I would like one person to volunteer to be on this table! The winner of Table 8 will be decided from just one duel!" Everyone began to mutter and mumble amongst themselves.

"So it's essentially a free-spot?" one person chatted.

"I would love to get a freebie from that."

"He doesn't look so tough."

Jens smiled as he adjusted his glasses. He had a greedy expression on his face like he wanted that spot. "Saves me the time to get in."

Ayami eyed everyone like she knew that they all want to beat Meo since they think he was weak. She said quietly to herself, "Really guys? Just because he's a kid?"

The glasses man shuffled a deck of white cards in his hands. "Alright. Since you all seem interested I'll just pick a random name and whoever I call will be going to Table 8. As for the others from your table they will have one less duelist to play." He picked out a card and read it aloud, "Number 24, Jerold Tiago!"

"That'd be me." A tall man in his 20s stepped up from his table. He wore a tall hat and wore a black scarf around his neck.

Marcus thought to himself as he watched Jerold walk over to Meo's table, "A foreigner gets to be Meo's opponent." He smiled as he continued, "Looks like it's his lucky day."

Jens observed Jerold moving to Table 8 and thought, "They say most foreigners are just as weak duelists as the ones from nearby villages. Time to see whether this kid is good enough to make it past even them."

Jerold sat down across from where Meo was sitting and placed his deck out on the table in the spot where the deck would go as the table had engraved duel mats all over. "So you will be my opponent for this round. You know where I come from it's unheard of for a beastian to be dueling."

Meo was curious by his words. "Why is that, sir?"

"Well we believe that they aren't as well intelligent enough to understand the concept of a game like this. Course I don't know much about beastian in this country, but to see one here will certainly be interesting."

Meo frowned like he was somehow being insulted by what he was saying.

"Okay everyone! You all have about an hour to duel everyone before we shift over to the park! I wish you all good luck and remember, play fairly! You may begin dueling...-" Everyone reached out to their decks ready to begin as they awaited him to finish, "-now!"

Almost simultaneously, everyone began to draw a full hand of cards as the duels began. At that time, Meo and Jerold's duel also began.

(Meo: 4000 LP/Jerold: 4000 LP)

"I will have the first turn, if you don't mind." said Jerold as he placed his hand on his deck ready to draw. Meo nodded as Jerold drew his card. "I will set one card face-down, and I will also set this monster face-down. I end my turn. Now then, let's see what you got, little one." he said friendly. He seemed rather calm with what he was doing and appeared as if he was going to have no trouble with this duel.

"My turn then." Meo drew his card and looked at it before placing it in his hand. "I set this face-down and...that's it." He placed a card face-down horizontally in the monster zone.

"Hmm...no Spell or Trap card eh? That's fine." He drew his card and placed it in his hand. "Now perhaps I could teach you something about how to duel cunningly." He flipped his face-down monster over to reveal Man-Eater Bug, "This is Man-Eater Bug. When this monster is flipped up, it's effect activates. Now I can destoy any monster on the field. In which case, I choose to destroy your face-down monster."

Meo felt shocked as if he saw his monster being destroyed by Jerold's monster. Meo moved the card which was Skelangel to the graveyard spot.

"Next I summon Acid Crawler to the field. And then, I activate the Continuous Trap card Ultimate Offering."

Meo looked at the card all surprised by how he had the card. "That's..." He remembered when he first dueled Lance who had the card as well.

"This Trap allows me to pay 500 Life Points during the Main Phase to perform an extra Normal Summon this turn. I have 3 more monsters to summon to the field so I will use this card 3 times."  
(Jerold: 4000 LP - 1500 = 2500 LP)

He placed 3 Basic Insect cards onto the table. "Now I will use all my monsters to attack you directly. That should leave you with...1150 Life Points."

In his mind, Meo imagined himself being attacked by all his monsters at once. He felt like he was being eaten by the monsters as they drained away his Life Points.  
(Meo: 4000 LP - 2850 = 1150 LP)

"This is the power of the swarm. They may seem weak but in a group they can easily wipe out your Life Points in one swoop. I might not have many powerful monsters, but as long as you have the element of surprise you have the advantage." He placed a card from his hand onto the table face-down. "I set this card face-down and end my turn."

Meo looked out at the field and began to think of the possibilities. "All his monsters look incredibly weak. I could take out any of them with my stronger monsters. But his face-down card..."

Jerold noticed Meo was uncertain with what to do. "He hasn't got a clue on what to do." he thought, "Now that he knows that my face-down cards might have a deadly surprise to them, he will think twice about attacking me while I have my face-down card. Plus, if he happens to have a monster in attack mode by the time my best monster hits the field then he will lose. It's one thing to have a powerful monster but when you feel cornered by so many monsters it can make you uneasy. One mistake from him and it'll all be over."

Meo was fiddling around with the cards in his hand like he wanted to do something with them but couldn't figure out what. "If I attack him he might use some sort of Trap card on me." he thought, "Or he could be waiting to summon a more powerful monster and defeat me that way. He has enough to summon a more powerful monster that way and...I just don't know what I should do."

He drew his card and for a moment his mouth was agapped in awe. "I set this monster face-down. I end my turn."

"Playing defense I see?" Jerold remarked, "Very well. Let's see how long that thing will last." He drew his card and smiled, "Looks like I win this one. First I release Basic Insect and Man-Eater Bug in order to Advance Summon my all mighty Metal Armored Bug!" As he moved his cards to the graveyard and placed his new monster onto the field he continued to gloat, "This is the crown jewel of my deck. It is one of the most powerful monsters I can ever get ahold of! It is of an Ultra-Rare quality with power unmatched by any!"

Jens overheard him boast about his card over from his table. As he glanced at the Tri-Horned Dragon card in his hand while in the middle of his own duel he thought to himself, "Metal Armored Bug you say? Humph, that's nothing compared to my monster. Though it sounds like the kid is toast if that guy has his best monster out already."

Jerold inched his card up slightly as if he were to have his monster attack. "I will attack your face-down monster. No matter how strong your wall monster is it is no match for my monster's 2800 attack points."

Meo flipped over the card to reveal Shining Angel. "In that case, Shining Angel's effect activates."

"What the? I never heard of that one before." Jerold was caught by surprised that Meo had an effect monster like that, one which he had never seen.

"When this monster is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard through battle I can Special Summon a Light-attribute monster from my deck in attack mode, whose attack points are 1500 or less." He searched his deck and picked out a second Shining Angel. "I choose to summon my other Shining Angel card."

"Hmm..." Jerold stroked his chin. He was not expecting Meo to have a monster like that and hoped to have finished the duel this turn. "Alright. I end my turn then."

"Right…my turn then." Meo drew his card and let out a faint smile. "There we go." His confidence seemed to grow as he placed two cards face-down on the table as he noted, "I'll set these two cards face-down. Then I'll set a monster, and switch Shining Angel to defense mode. That's my turn."

Jerold continued to stroke his chin as he eyed Meo. He observed Meo's newly found hope as he thought, "He certainly looks more confident. Maybe he drew something good. No, that couldn't be it. He doesn't look like someone who could afford to have anything more than a Common card. His robe is so raggy, it's like he's worn that thing for years. I don't know how a kid like him could even get a deck if he can't even afford better clothes. Then again, he is a cat and his kind can be quite the tricky bunch. There's no mistake, he's bluffing. He's smiling cause he knows he has nothing to stop my monster, he wants me to think that card is something to stop me, but I know there isn't!"

Over at Table 7, Ayami had finished her first duel against her opponent. "Well that was fun. Sorry if I seemed a little hard on you." She offered her hand out to her opponent who shook her hand friendly.

"Not at all."

Ayami looked around her table as everyone else was still dueling. "Looks like I still got a few minutes. I wonder how Meo's doing." She turned to face Meo at his table while his duel was going on.

"My turn now." Jerold declared as he drew his card and placed it in his hand. He then flipped over his face-down card, "I reveal my face-down card, De-Spell. This Spell lets me destroy 1 Spell card on the field."

Meo appeared confused by his play. "But…I don't have any Spell cards on the field."

"Lesson one, never give away information about your Set cards." Jerold noted as Meo felt like he made a mistake. "Lesson two, De-Spell lets me target face-down cards to see if they are Spell cards that I can destroy. If it's not then nothing happens. So…I think I'll look at the card on the left."

Meo moaned slightly as he flipped over the card, which was Shift.

"Hmm…just as I thought, you were bluffing." he smiled as Meo re-set his Trap card. "You don't have anything to defeat my Metal Armored Bug. That Trap card of yours could change the target of my first attack to your face-down monster, but I doubt even that will save you and you want to know why? Because I'm already prepared for that." He picked out the card he had in his hand, "I activate the Spell card Nobleman of Crossout!"

"Nobleman of Crossout!" Ayami exclaimed as she recognized the name.

Jens' glasses gleamed as his eyes turned slightly toward their direction, "So that guy had a Super-Rare card after all?"

"Humph." Marcus grunted as he overheard the name, "Didn't see that coming."

Jerold placed the card on the table as he explained, "Nobleman of Crossout lets me destroy 1 face-down monster on the field and remove it from the game. If it's a Flip Effect monster then we must both remove all copies of that monster from our decks. If your card is anything like The Unhappy Maiden then it could cause a delay in your inevitable defeat, so anything like that must go. Now show me what monster you have!"

Meo flipped over his monster, revealing Petit Angel.

"Well then, I guess it didn't matter anyway. As soon as I destroy your remaining monster,-" he said as Meo removed the monster from his field, "-as well as the next monster that comes from your Shining Angel, you will be left open for attack and I will be the victor. You played well for a young beastian, but if you ever hope to win you need more stronger cards. Now, I'll have Metal Armored Bug attack your Shining Angel." He inched his card forward slightly.

Meo flipped over his other face-down card and said, "I'm sorry but, I activate Mirror Force."

"Wha….what!" Jerold exclaimed, "How did you get an Ultra-Rare card!"

Ayami smiled, "He he. This is what you get for underestimating the new talent."

"Mirror Force huh?" Jens overheard what was going on.

Marcus grinned with excitement, "So he's going to make it in after all. Sweet."

Jerold moved all his monsters into his graveyard slot. "Blast. I end my turn."

Meo drew his card, which was Guardian Angel Kasket. He smiled at the sight of his monster, "There you are." He placed the card on the table, "I summon Guardian Angel Kasket in attack mode! Then I switch Shining Angel to attack mode."

"Inconceivable!" thought Jerold, "For me to lose to a child like him?"

"Then I'll have both monsters attack you directly."

In Jerold's mind he imagined both of Meo's monsters striking him down at once. He slumped over slightly in defeat.  
(Jerold: 2500 LP – (1600 + 1400) = 0 LP)

"Alright! Way to go!" Ayami cheered.

Meo appeared happy that he won. Jerold straightened up as he held out his hand, "Congratulations, my little friend. It appears you have bested me."

"Umm…" Meo was uncertain at first but then he grabbed Jerold's hand and shook it. "Mm."

Jerold stood up and took a bow, "If you will excuse me, I have some things to do." He began to leave as the lab-coat man with the glasses marked his name off the list.

"Alrighty, then that means Meo Lightfoot will advance into the Quarter-Finals." He walked over to Meo and said, "You're free to stick around here if you wish, but otherwise you will need to be in the park when it's time for the main event, understand?"

Meo nodded as the man left.

"You did very well Meo." Ayami praised him as she patted him on the back, "Now why don't you sit with me while I get all my duels done. You're going to be playing in the main tournament, isn't that exciting?"

Meo nodded and smiled, "Uh huh."

Marcus was shuffling his deck as he eyed the two. "This week's going to be the best one for sure. A newbie and a city duelist, I hope I duel them both." He chuckled with glee.

Some time after leaving the building, Jerold walked up to two gentlemen who were waiting by a lamp-post in the park. "Hello there!"

"Ah, Jerold,-" one of the men replied, "We were just talking about you."

"Already qualified I see?" the other man asked.

Jerold shook his head, "I'm sorry to say, not this time." His two friends appeared astonished as he explained, "You see my opponent…my 'only' opponent, was only a little kid and yet he had quite the cards in his deck."

"Oh?"

"I never thought I'd see the day where you'd lose to child."

Jerold chuckled, "Indeed, but you know what was even more astonishing? This kid, was a beastian." His two friends were awed.

"A beastian child as a duelist?"

"No way!"

Jerold nodded, "It's true. I lost to a beastian. In fact because he beat me he's going to be participating in the main tournament. Why don't we stick around and you can see for yourself."

"Sounds good to me."

"Should be interesting."

As the three left, a woman with dark red hair, red eyes and a bright red dress walked out from underneath a tree. She wore a jeweled necklace, a gold bracelet around her wrist, and appeared to be in her 20s. "A beastian duelist huh?" She seemed curious after overhearing their conversation. "This I gotta see."

To Be Continued…


	5. The Man of Legend! The First Round Begin

(A/N: Today's special phrase is...Believe it! ...I am so not using that line. Also updates will probably be limited as I'm doing movie reviews on the TGWTG fan-forums. If interested you can look me up under Isaac232.)

**Chapter 5: The Man of Legend! The First Round Begins!**

Outside of Muirenn, far across the open plain was a horse-drawn carriage that was surrounded by four silver-clad knights as they made their way toward the port town. One of the knights turned his head as he heard something coming from behind a tree. It was a large sloth-like creature with four arms, razor-sharp claws and scales shimmering across its belly. It turned its attention to the carriage.

"Stay sharp." the knight ordered as he readied his sword, "Don't make any sudden movements."

The creature began to slowly move its way toward the group, with the knights about to draw their swords.

"There will be no need for that." said a man as he stepped out onto the small stairway of the carriage. He was wearing a long-white lab coat and black leather boots. He had dark green hair that stretched down to his neck and was wearing glasses. His glasses shined off the sunlight as he attached a Duel Disk to his arm, "If it values its life then it'll know to run upon seeing my mighty beast."

"Sir, you mustn't!"

The man stepped down from the stairway and proceeded toward the creature. The creature began to stand up on its hind legs and snarled loudly. The man turned on his Duel Disk without the slightest fear of the creature. "I'm turning off the safety,-" he said as he pressed a button just behind the front of the Duel Disk, "-unless you want to be left for dead you better run."

The creature did not back down from his words. It got back down on its forearms and began to rush toward him. The man drew a single card from his deck and without looking at it he placed it on the Duel Disk. A large monster began to appear behind him and let out a loud dragon-like roar.

At the park inside Muirenn, Ayami and Meo sat on a bench next to a clock. Meo was eating the lunch Eliza made for him while Ayami examined her deck while her side-deck was next to her. "Hopefully with this set-up it'll give the others a fighting chance. No sense going all out just yet." She placed both decks into the appropriate pockets of her Deck Box. "This is going to be so much fun." She turned to face Meo who had finished his sandwich, "You excited for your very first tournament?"

He turned his head toward her, "Uh...Mm. Um, Ayami...there won't be too many people watching will there?"

"Oh don't worry about it too much." she replied cheerfully, "Just remember to never turn your gaze toward the crowd while you're in a duel, rather focus on the duel itself. Just pretend they're not even there, that way you won't lose your nerve."

"Oh,-" he faced forward with uncertainty, "-okay."

Just then the sound of a bell rang through the park as a loud voice soon followed, "Attention! The Muirenn Dueling Tournament will begin in about five minutes! Those duelists who have qualified must report in or you will be disqualified!"

Ayami hopped off the bench as she offered her hand to Meo, "Guess it's time."

Meo grabbed her hand and hopped off as well, "Mm." They then proceeded to run through the grass.

At the center of the park was a large Duel Arena, with podiums that resembled dragon heads. Surrounding the arena were spectator seats that ascended upward to ground level. Sitting in the stands were dozens upon dozens of people as they wait with anticipation for the tournament to begin.

Ayami and Meo arrived as Ayami pointed outward, "There it is! The Duel Arena."

"Ohhh." Meo awed as he faced Ayami, "What's a Duel Arena?"

"A Duel Arena is said to be the very first device used for Duel Monsters. Much like the Duel Disk as it is another relic from the Lost Age. This particular arena was discovered in a ruin not too far from here by the University and ever since it has been refurbished to function in current times. After all, like that Duel Disk you found, it's very rare to find a still functioning Duel Device, or at least one that can be repaired. In any case, they brought this one to this town for the purpose of holding these Duel Tournaments. There's no reason to create Duel Arenas as Duel Disks are more beneficial to make, not to mention less time to create than with the arena. So any one they find they try to fix before placing them in the closest town."

Meo gazed around the crowd of people who were sitting in their seats. "That's a lot of people. Even more than in that building." His feet began to quake.

"Hey,-" said Ayami as she placed her hand on his shoulder, "-don't worry about it. Like I said, as soon as you start dueling don't even think about all of them. I guarantee that as soon as you start dueling you won't even know they're there. Now come on, we better join the others." They both walked down the stairs toward the center.

"Mmmmm...this is bad." the man with swirled glasses mumbled as he paced back and forth, "They said he would be here today, and he hasn't shown up yet. What am I to tell everyone?" He felt sweat dripping down his face in panic.

Another man in a white lab coat walked up to him and asked, "Professor Ko!" Upon hearing his name, Ko jumped slightly in shock before turning to face his fellow co-worker. "You looking rather upset, is there something wrong?"

"Of course there's something wrong! We were supposed to have the Head of Duel Monsters come and show everyone the new promotional card for the tournament! 'The' Head of Duel Monsters was coming here personally for a change and everyone knows he doesn't do that for just any tournament!" Ko turned and started to cry tears that flowed like a waterfall, "But he hasn't shown up yet! He promised he'd be here!"

"Now now,-" the man in the lab coat said calmingly, "I'm sure he's just running a little late. It's not like him to just simply change his mind..."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" yelled Ko. He continued to cry, "I already made mention of his arrival and now everyone's going to hate us for breaking our promise!"

"Um...'our?'"

Another man in a lab coat walked by and said, "Professor Ko, we're ready to start."

Ko grabbed the microphone off the table while moaning, "Let's get this over with..."

On one side of the Duel Arena was a platform where the eight finalists stood, all in a straight line. Among them were Meo, Ayami, Marcus, Jenna and Jens in addition to three other people. The sound of the audience filled the air as they waited with anticipation while others commented on the duelists.

"Quite a turn-out."

"Hope Marcus wins this week."

"Is that really a beastian?"

"He looks cute."

Meo looked down the line toward Marcus who was standing next to his friends and chatting with them. "He made it in too..." he commented.

"You interested in him, huh?" Ayami asked, having noticed his curious observation.

"Well...um..."

"Hey who knows, maybe you'll face him in the first round."

Everyone started to become quiet as Ko made his way in front of the platform with microphone in hand. He was not looking enthused as he raised the microphone to his mouth, "Hello everyone! The University welcomes you all to another week of excitement with Duel Monsters!-"

As he continued to talk, Jenna whispered in Marcus' ear, "He doesn't look too happy at all."

Marcus nodded as Jens adjusted his glasses and added, "Probably doesn't want to be making announcements."

Ko waved his hand toward the left side of the line of duelists and continued, "-At any rate, let me first introduce the duelists for this week! Going down the line, we have Albert Mortimer, who hails from the far south of our own country!"

Albert waved to the crowd as they cheered for him. He wore a brown leather vest with a blue shirt, white leather pants, a red handkerchief and a felt wide-brimmed hat.

"Then we have Cronus Dylan, who comes from another town to the west of here!"

Cronus simply grinned as people cheered for him.

"Next we have Dagda Leland! Hailing from a village to the west, he's a local contender who won the last tournament held here! Those who were there that week will remember the frightening finisher he gave us! Give it up for him!"

Dagda chuckled as everyone cheered for him.

"The next three duelists are all from this very town and have been competing in our tournaments for quite a long time! All of them have been frequent winners here in Muirenn so let's see how they do this time! First we have Jenna Eleanor, followed by Marcus Sharpclaw, and finally Jens Eleanor! Give it up for them!"

As the crowd cheered, Jenna and Marcus waved to everyone. Jens just looked the other way, unenthused.

"Also joining us today is a duelist who's already qualified for the King's Cup that will be held in Arcum in about a month! She's a city duelist as well as Second-In-Command in the Ninja Branch of the Arcum Military! It's not every day that someone as incredibly talented as her comes around here, so let's enjoy what she has to offer! Here's Sukioh Ayami!"

Ayami waved to everyone as they cheered wildly.

"And finally we have what is perhaps our youngest duelist to date! Not to mention that he's the first one of his kind to be dueling in our tournament! Please give warm welcome to Meo Lightfoot!"

Meo nervously raised his paw as if to wave as some people cheered while others mumbled amongst each other.

"Is this some sort of joke?" one muttered.

"Since when could beastian duel? They never duel."

Meo's ears twitched as he heard everyone's comments. He looked down with grief as Ayami gazed worryingly at him. "Hey...don't let them get to you. There are still people who would like to see you duel."

Marcus gazed toward Meo with concern.

Next to a table with other scientists, Zeke stood alongside a wall as he looked on toward the platform of duelists. "So he got in. Well then show me how far you can go, little one."

Ko cleared his throat as he continued his announcement, "Right, now then. For those who are new to this allow me to explain how we do things! This tournament will run under a single duel-type match as well as the Traditional Restriction Format! While no cards are banned, all decks must abide to the list of restrictions set by the University! Any cards not published by the University must be examined by us asap!"

"Oh right!" Ayami exclaimed quietly, "I forgot all about that! Meo!" Meo looked up at her as she said, "Just before your match we have to let them know about your card."

"My card?" Meo wondered for a moment before he realized what she meant. "Of course!" He pulled out his deck and picked out Kasket.

Ko began to wrap up his announcement, "Now then! We will begin the randomization of the brackets..."

"Excuse me..."

Ko was spooked as Dagda appeared right in front of him in like a blur. His pale eyes seemed to gaze right into him in addition to his pale face.

"I believe it's at this point that we would like to know the prizes for winning?"

"Um...well..."

"Plus if I recall correctly, there was a special prize to be given this time; and that a special was coming here to personally present it to us?"

Ko started to sweat like mad. He knew this was true and that the special guest was not here. It was a matter of either telling the truth or lie. "Well...um...you see..."

"Why I do believe you're right. There is a special prize to be given." said a voice from above.

Everyone from all around the area turned their attention to the top of the stands to see a man in University clothing, with armored-clad knights standing just behind him. The audience began to cheer after they had recognized him.

"Ah! It...It's Dr. Lucinde! The head of Duel Monsters branch of the University!"

Marcus grinned as he chuckled, "Oh sweet! He's here! That's awesome!"

Meo watched Lucinde descend down the stairs with curiosity. It wasn't since Marcus that he felt attracted toward another person, but it felt different than when he was joyful. "Ayami, who's that?"

"That's the Head of Duel Monsters, Dr. Lucinde." Ayami replied. "You might know him as the man who wrote "The Philosophy of Dueling."

"So...is he over a hundred years old?"

Ayami felt embarrassed as she knew what Meo meant. "Well no...but anyway, this guy is one of those big-time heads of the University. When it comes to Duel Monsters, that's his specialty. That isn't to say he hasn't helped in other findings in the other branches, but for duelists like me, he's like a legend."

"So he is very old?"

Ayami sighed as she continued, "I'll tell you the truth later, but just know that the reason he's a legend is because his deck contains cards that are said to be based off real monsters of legend. In fact, many of the cards in his deck are one of a kind and were never released to the public."

Lucinde walked up to Ko and extended his hand as if to want something. "May I?"

Ko nodded graciously and handed him the microphone. As Lucinde proceeded to the center of the area he felt his heart pounding with excitement. "Ohhh man. So this is the great Dr. Lucinde. It's so cool to be in the presence of one of these guys!"

Everything became quiet as Lucinde began to speak loudly into the microphone, "Greetings everyone! As many of you may know, I am Dr. Lucinde, one of the Five Heads of Research of the University, more so the Head of Duel Monsters! Now as many of you may also know, we of my branch take pride in the research we conduct, as it not only benefits the duelists who have gathered here, but also you! For the very creatures you see here may have once existed in some shape or form! While we re-create them as cards, we also pass this on to the other branches in hope to find some connection to the various artifacts scattered through-out the world, and to the Lost Age!-"

As he spoke, Meo continued to feel like he was in the presence of someone extraordinary. Of all the people here he had never felt anything more powerful than this man. It was almost hard for him to even stand well as he was shaking with anticipation.

"And now today, the University has brought you a new discovery! In a ruin of what appeared to be a shrine of some kind, we found a card that is so powerful that it just couldn't be kept secret!" He activated his Duel Disk as he pulled a card from his pocket. "Now bear witness to that monster! Guardian of Order!"

The moment after he placed the card on the Duel Disk, a bright yellow light flashed throughout the stands. Everyone watched as an armored-being with gold-lining and visor descended downward, like an angel appearing from the heavens. They all applauded at the site of the creature.

"This monster has the ability to be Special Summoned if 2 or more Light-attribute monsters exist on your field. It's 2500 attack points make for a powerful sweeper in decks that rely mostly on Light monsters. And today, someone will be going home with it! That person will be the first to own a creature that won't be hitting booster packs for another few months! So this promotional card is definitely worth fighting for!"

Meo gazed at the creature with interest. "You'd like that wouldn't you?" Ayami asked, as she noticed him looking at the monster with great interest.

"Mm hm."

"Well let's see if we can win it."

Lucinde abruptly continued, "But, that's not the only thing we'll be giving out! In addition to a box of the current booster pack series here, I will be giving out another prize to those who want to substitute their cash prize for this one! For the people of Arcum, Duel Disks are like another accessory to the normal duelist. Now one of these lucky duelists will have a chance to own their very own Duel Disk, but not only that but I will personally customize it to suit their very liking!"

"Customized, huh?" Jenna muttered with fascination.

Jens glared at her like she said something odd, "Don't you already have a Duel Disk?"

"Yeah, but this one's going to be a customized one by 'the legend' himself. Can you imagine how much we could get for something like that?"

Marcus chuckled, "If I got one like that I'd keep it. After all to use something created by a man like that is truly an honor."

His conversation caught Meo's ear as he began to wonder about what it would be like to have that kind of Duel Disk. "From him it would be an honor?" he muttered.

Lucinde started to wrap up his speech, "So that is all I have to say! I wish you duelists good luck and remember, aim high-" he proceeded to draw a card from his deck, "-and one day you too may become a legend!" He then placed the card on the Duel Disk as a large white dragon appeared behind him. It roared loudly as it expanded its wings.

The audience was astounded by the appearance of such a large creature. There were those who had never seen it and for a moment had lost breath as they looked up in amazement, while others immediately recognized the creature and were enthralled for having to see it. After a moment the crowd began to cheer wildly.

Ko started to cry like he had waterfalls for tears. "So...beautiful!"

For a moment Meo felt like he was in a completely different world. Gazing at the mighty dragon he felt his heart race in a way he hadn't felt. He couldn't tell whether this was the same man he had thought of before or something even more. As well as the dragon, he eventually recognized the creature from an earlier time. "I remember that creature, I read it in a book once..."

"That's the Blue-Eyes White Dragon." said Ayami. Meo seemed to snap out of his trance as he looked up at her. "Of all the cards in the world, this one is the one everyone recognizes as something of true legend. According to Lucinde, there were more artifacts with this creature on it than many of the other Duel Monsters combined. What's more, he owns three copies of this monster in his deck and all were found in ruins."

"Really!" Meo was astounded.

"Mm. Now rumor has it there was a fourth card produced, but was never released. To this day people believe the card might have been released in a booster pack somewhere, but nothing ever came of it. Just a way to get people into buying more booster packs I'm sure."

Meo looked back at the dragon as it seemed to let out a soft growl. "Maybe one day...I could see it in action."

The holograms disappeared as Lucinde walked over to Ko. "All yours." he said as he handed the microphone.

"Th...thank you!" said Ko, who proceeded to make his way to where Lucinde was before.

Lucinde took an empty seat at the table, next to Zeke who continued to hang by the wall. "So Zeke, what brings you out here?"

"Business." he replied sternly, "Though I couldn't find what I want, so I headed back...until they came along."

"Forced you into watching the tournament and promoting the King's Cup?"

Zeke nodded, "Pretty much."

Lucinde chuckled. "Well hopefully it won't be boring for you. I certainly won't be, because it seems we have a beastian duelist among us, and that hardly ever happens."

"Hmph...he's only a little kid. He's too young for this sort of thing so I doubt..."

"There is no doubt." Lucinde interrupted. "You don't know what will happen until you see it in action. As a researcher myself I'm inclined to observe just how far he'll go before giving up. Who knows, maybe he'll be the first to really get into the game, like we do."

Zeke stared at him for a moment before looking back toward Meo. "Perhaps we will."

Ko wiped off the microphone with a piece of cloth before announcing to the crowd, "Really good stuff from the head of Duel Monsters. Now then, it's time to begin the pairings for the first round!" He pointed toward one of the large-screen monitors that were located on different ends of the stands. There was a bracket that branched out into eight slots with blank pictures beneath them. "Each bracket will be filled in at random and we'll proceed in order! Begin randomization!"

The panels on the screen began to flash with different pictures of the duelists. Everyone was silent as they anticipated who would duel and when. Tension started to build among everyone in the area.

"Hopefully I get the kid first." thought Jens as he eyed Meo, "It'll be an easy victory for me. Course if I get Marcus first, then that's fine too."

Ayami stared at the monitor and thought, "I hope I don't end up facing Meo in the first round. I want to at least have him duel someone else before facing me."

"The kid or the city girl..." thought Marcus, "Either way this will be an exciting tournament."

Meo was sweating as he watched the panels flash before him. He clenched his paws together and closed his eyes in like a prayer, "Please don't let me go first. Please don't let me go first."

At the top of the stands, the dark-red haired woman looked down upon everyone while gazing at Meo. "So that's the beastian kid. Hmph, doesn't seem too interesting. But then again, it's all in the matter of dueling where I can truly see for myself."

The panels eventually stopped flashing as the pictures of the duelists lined up in order. "It's decided!" yelled Ko, "The first round brackets have been chosen! The first match will be Jenna Eleanor vs. Sukioh Ayami, followed by Dagda Leland vs. Marcus Sharpclaw! Following which will be Albert Mortimer vs. Meo Lightfoot, and finally ending with Cronus Dylan vs. Jens Eleanor!"

Marcus grinned cheerfully as he patted Jenna on the back. "Looks like you get the city-girl first. Lucky."

Jenna wasn't too thrilled as she appeared discouraged. "Here I was hoping one of you guys could face her first, so that I could figure out what she plays."

"Well better you than us I suppose." Jens remarked.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!"

Ayami bent down a bit to Meo's height, as he was still keeping his eyes shut. "Hey, you can look now."

He opened his eyes and looked up toward the monitors and saw his picture on the screen. "Is that me up there?"

"Yep. You'll be dueling in the third match, which means after my duel we'll need to ring up your angel card with the University guys so that they know you're playing with an unlicensed card."

"Will I be able to use it?"

Ayami nodded, "I'm sure you will. At any rate I want you to stick by my side of the arena and don't go anywhere without me, okay?" Meo nodded as she smiled, "Good."

The audience watched with anticipation as Ayami and Jenna stepped onto their respective sides of the arena while their stands lifted them up to their tables. In front of them was a flat table with the same color coding as a duel mat while just in front of it was a monitor that displayed the opponent's side. Also on the table was a small indent over by where the deck would be placed.

"The first match is about to start!" Ko announced and the crowd started to get riled up. "Duelists, please place your decks in the automated deck shuffler and you may begin when ready!"

Both duelists pulled out their decks and placed them in the indents on their respective sides as the cards shuffled from inside. After which they placed their decks down on the table.

"So I guess I have the pleasure of dueling you first." Jenna spoke with a slight hint of confidence. "Well don't think that because your deck is better made than mine means you're going to win so easily."

Ayami replied with the same level of confidence, "Don't worry, I won't disappoint."

The two drew five cards and yelled simultaneously, "DUEL!"

(Jenna: 4000 LP/Ayami: 4000 LP)

On their monitors, two dice appeared with their names above them. The dice bounced up and down for a moment until it landed on a number. For Jenna it landed on 2 while Ayami had 3.

"Guess I'm first." Ayami declared as she drew his card, "I draw!" He examined her hand before taking a card from it and placing it in the Spell and Trap zone. "I activate Different Dimension Capsule!-" as she activated the card a sarcophagus-like capsule appeared on the field and opened up, "-This Spell lets me take 1 card from my deck and remove it from the game face-down!" She took a card out from her deck and placed it face-down in the pile above the graveyard. On the field the card appeared with its back faced toward Jenna as it entered the capsule. Ayami held up two fingers and explained, "On the second Stand-by Phase after this card was activated the card I removed will be added to my hand, but only if Different Dimension Capsule remains by that point!"

"I see." Jenna acknowledged, "So taking out the Different Dimension Capsule will remove any chance of you obtaining your card." She smirked and remarked, "Though I wouldn't think you'd use that. I heard there was a card similar but more useful than this one. Are you holding back on me?"

"You can decide that for yourself." Ayami picked another card from her hand and placed it on the table, "I set one monster face-down. That ends my turn."

"My turn then!" Jenna drew her card and analyzed her hand. She glanced at the field and began to think. "That monster will likely be something that will either deplete my Life Points or destroy whatever I have on the field. There's a big chance it's some really powerful Flip Effect monster, since city-duelists don't rely on the old-school defense cards. Well either way, whether I attack or not I'm going to get my butt kicked if she breaks out some really powerful cards."

She picked a card from her hand and placed it on the table, "I summon Birdface in attack mode!" A large bird with multiple-colored feathers, blue armor and a red horn on its head appeared with a shriek (ATK 1600).

Ayami's confidence face suddenly changed to a slightly shocked expression. "Th...that's..."

"Attack her face-down monster!" she declared as her monster swept passed Ayami's monster, revealing White Ninja as it shattered into pixels. Ayami seemed unphased as the pixels flew past her. "Hm? Well?" Jenna said confusingly. It was like Ayami was in another world and nothing was phasing her.

"Huh?" Ayami snapped out of it and shook her head. "Oh right. White Ninja's effect destroys a defense position monster when flipped, but since neither of us have one, nothing happens!"

"Though how you acted...whatever. I set 1 card face-down." She set a card on the table and finished, "That ends my turn."

A drop of sweat went down Ayami's face as she thought to herself, "Great, why did it have to be those type of birds? They look so much like 'them'. I just...I just..."

Meo watched Ayami and saw how strange she was acting. "Ayami?"

"My turn." She drew her card and examined her hand. "I shouldn't have to worry too much." she thought, "I have a powerful enough monster in my hand to take it out and then some. I'll just end this as quickly as I can, I don't want any more of those things out."

She picked a card from her hand and placed it in the graveyard slot, "I discard one card from my hand to the Graveyard, in order to Special Summon The Tricky!" A jester-like magician with a blue cape and a question mark on its face appeared (ATK 2000). She held up another card between her fingers and said, "I'll also summon Nin-Ken Dog in attack mode!" Her dog-like ninja appeared (ATK 1800). "The Tricky will attack Birdface! Tricky Wave!" The Tricky waved his hand as if to perform a spell.

"I activate a Trap card! Reinforcements! This card will increase my monster's attack by 500 until the end of the turn!" An aura surrounds Birdface as it grows stronger (ATK 2100). "Too bad you fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book..." Suddenly a large winged-demon appeared behind Birdface and grabbed it by the wings, causing it to weaken (ATK 1600). Jenna looked on in shock, "What the!"

Ayami smirked, "The card I sent to the graveyard was a monster called Archfiend of Gilfer. When it goes to the Graveyard I can activate the effect, in which it equips itself to a monster on the field and causes it to lose 500 attack points! Too bad you didn't notice it sooner but hey, at least you saved yourself some points." Jenna scowled as The Tricky continued his attack. It unleashed a wave of flashing energy toward Birdface and destroyed it.

(Jenna: 4000 LP - 400 = 3600 LP)

"Nin-ken Dog will attack now! And I'll also activate Rush Recklessly, increasing it's attack points by 700!" Nin-ken Dog started to rush toward Jenna with an increased power (ATK 2500) and slashed her with its blade.

(Jenna: 3600 LP - 2500 = 1100 LP)

The crowd cheers as Ayami wiped her forehead with relief. "What power!" Ko yelled excitingly, "In no time at all Ayami has depleted almost 3/4 of Jenna's Life Points!"

Jenna smirked as if nothing changed. "What's the rush? You make it seem like you wanted to end things too soon. Of course that's how you all are, with cards so powerful you can finish games quicker than we can. However you failed to see what I might be trying to do, in which case is prepare for your defeat. When Birdface is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard through battle, I can add 1 Harpie Lady from my deck to my hand." She picked out the card from her deck and placed her deck into the indent to have it shuffled.

"Great...Harpie Lady." Ayami had once again lost the relief she felt after defeating Birdface.

"You don't sound too thrilled. I guess you don't like these kind of cards. Though for someone like you it shouldn't be a no brainer to take me on, after all I don't have nearly all the good cards that can make this deck as powerful as it possibly can. And if you're done I can show you just what I mean!"

Ayami nodded as she set the last card in her hand on the table, "I set 1 card face-down. That ends my turn."

"Now she has no cards in hand." though Jenna, "Which means if I draw that one card now I can end it here." She drew her card and scowled disappointingly, "Not quite what I wanted, but it works enough for setting up the field." She picked a card from her hand as she continued. "I summon Harpie Lady in attack mode!" A purple and blue-skinned woman with bird talons and wings appeared and shrieked (ATK 1300).

"Tch...here we go again." mumbled Ayami.

"After that, I activate Elegant Egotist! Since I have a Harpie Lady on the field, this Spell will allow me to Special Summon another one from my hand or deck! Or...-" she picked out a new card from her deck as she said, "-I can choose to Special Summon Harpie Lady Sisters instead. Which is exactly what I plan to do!" As she placed the card on the table, three harpie monsters appeared. Each one had a different hair style than one another and they stayed together (ATK 1950). "I'm willing to bet none of the city duelists use this one anymore. I always hear about how there are better versions of these monsters running around, all more useful than this card. Well, I guess it's time to get schooled by an old card. Harpie Lady Sisters, attack her Nin-ken Dog!"

Her three monsters gathered in like a triangle formation as they summon sparks of energy. An X appeared in the center of a ball of energy as a beam was shot out of the triangle formed by the harpies. Nin-ken Dog absorbs the hit and was destroyed. Ayami braced herself as the shockwave blasted her slightly.

(Ayami: 4000 LP - 150 = 3850 LP)

"Alright, way to go Jenna!" Marcus cheered. The audience around them also cheered with excitement.

Jens stared at Ayami and wondered, "That's odd." Marcus turned his attention to Jens as he said, "She had a face-down card and didn't use it."

"So? Just because she didn't use it right away doesn't mean she couldn't of had the right timing for it."

"She's a city duelist, they have cards that can pretty much counter anything we can dish out and most of them aren't even Counter Traps. You pretty much showed me that with that one card."

Marcus sweated like he had forgotten about it. "Oh...right. Well I'm sure there must be a reason. I mean she can't be holding back on us, right?"

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"Oh?" Lucinde leaned his head on his hand in bewilderment as he watched the duel. "She looks like she's struggling quite a bit."

"She always reacted this way." Zeke noted. "Ever since that day she was never comfortable around those type of beastian, or anything resembling them in some way."

"Intriguing. How unfortunate for her then, as her opponent is certainly not going to let up on those monsters."

"I know."

A card appeared face-down on Jenna's field as she wrapped up her turn. "I set 1 card face-down. Now it's your turn."

Ayami took a moment too recollect herself after having been attacked in the previous round. She proceeded to draw her card, "My turn then." She stared at her card while thinking, "Of all the decks I could be facing I'd had to face the one that has mostly bird beastian look-alikes. I could have easily destroyed Harpie Ladie Sisters with Sakuretsu Armor but..."

An image flashed through her head of when a large bird-like creature attacked her during a storm. After which she proceeded with her turn, "It's now my second Stand-by Phase, which means I can now add the card I sent into the Different Dimension Capsule to my hand!" The capsule opened up as the card appeared on the field. She picked up the card from the removed-from-play pile and added it to her hand. "After that I'll activate Pot of Greed! This lets me draw 2 more cards!"

"Good ol' Pot of Greed." Jenna retorted, "Even in the city it's one addicting card no one can be without."

Ayami drew Spider's Web and Sazanku, Karakuri Ninja. "Perfect." she thought with a slight smile. "By destroying Harpie Ladie Sisters she'll have no choice but to go defensive, unless she wants to risk losing more Life Points. And if she does that I can simply attack directly with Sazanku once he gets flipped up. When that happens, I win! But first I need to make sure Harpie Lady Sisters in the likely event she equips it with Cyber Shield. Any kind of power-up on that monster will be enough to destroy The Tricky." She reached her arm out and declared, "The Tricky will attack Harpie Lady Sisters!" The Tricky began to unleash another beam of energy.

"I activate a Trap! Waboku!" Three maidens in blue appeared and absorbed the attack, surprising Ayami as Jenna explained, "This card prevents my monsters from being destroyed, and all Battle Damage is reduced to 0."

Ayami scowled and thought, "Damn. Well at the least I can hope she won't attack my face-down then." She picked up Sazanku and another card from her hand and set them on the field. "I set 1 card face-down and also set a monster. That ends my turn." Another thought entered her head, "And just in case she tries anything else I have another little surprise for her."

"So far I haven't been that much impressed. You've been rushing at me the whole time and haven't given much thought on what my face-downs were." Jenna pointed toward Ayami and asked, "Is your head even in the game right now!"

"What?"

"You heard me. I can tell you're not acting like the duelist I'd expect, and if I continue to see it then...this victory will be bittersweet." She drew her card and revealed it to Ayami, "Like you I'll activate my own Pot of Greed! So now I can draw 2 more cards." She drew her cards and smirked as like she gotten something she wanted. "Perfect. It's now time to put an end to this. But first things first, I'm going to show you my ace monster! I activate Elegant Egotist! So once again I summon Harpie Lady Sisters!" Three more harpie monsters came together as they appeared on the field (ATK 1950). She held up another Elegant Egotist and said, "And what's one more going to hurt? I summon Harpie Lady!" A single harpie monster appeared this time (ATK 1300).

Ayami was starting to get really nervous as she felt like she was being closed in by a whole flock of monsters. "No...not again." she muttered. "Make them go away, please."

Meo looked on worryingly as he started to feel scared for her.

"Now I release one of my Harpie Lady and Harpie Lady Sisters! In order to Advance Summon Harpie's Pet Dragon!" As her two monsters disappeared, a pillar of flame appeared on the field. Everyone watched in awe as a large red dragon with a chained collar around its neck appeared. It roared as it completely emerged from the flames (ATK 2000).

"Ha ha, yeah!" Marcus cheered, "You show em!"

"Hmph. Showing off as usual." Jens remarked.

"Harpie's Pet Dragon gains 300 attack points for every Harpie Lady on the field. So with the one Harpie Lady I have that's 300 attack points!" Harpie Lady floated next to her pet dragon as it softly growled (ATK 2300).

Ayami scowled and thought, "Great...that monster has enough attack points to destroy The Tricky. Then if she attacks my face-down monster I'll have no real way of stopping her! Not unless I draw the right card next round."

"Hm hm. Now watch yourself,-" she picked a card from her hand, "-as I am about to end it all here. This is a card that is so powerful and rare, that it was banned from the Advanced format. Behold,-" she turned the card around, "-Raigeki!"

Ayami appeared shocked, as was Meo who gasped, "What's that!"

"Raigeki is a Spell that destroys every monster on the opponent's field." Zeke said to himself. "Quite the card for a town-duelist."

Lucinde adjusted his glasses and agreed, "Indeed. This card was so powerful that even for release here we had to increase rarity of it. In Arcum it's an Ultra-Rare, so I'd imagine here it's a Secret Rare. She must be one lucky duelist to even obtain it, though sadly it won't help her at all in the King's Cup."

"Of course...the wild-card slots are still being given out aren't they?"

Inside Jenna's mind, she remembered a time when Marcus gave her that card. "You're really giving this to me?"

"Of course!" Marcus replied, "My deck is alright on its own so I don't really need it. I figured your deck could use it. After all we're all trying to become better duelists right?" Jenna blushed slightly.

Jens turned his head and raised his hands in like an insult fashion, "He's just an idiot trying to impress you."

Marcus grinned and remarked, "But you didn't want it either."

"I don't take gifts from you!" snapped Jens.

"He he."

Jenna wrapped her arms tightly around Marcus and squealed, "Oh thank you Marcus! You're the best! Ha ha!"

"That's right." she thought to herself, "Marcus gave me this card so I can become stronger, just like him. One day I'm going to have to part with this card when I get into more Advanced format duels, but until then I need to continue winning these tournaments and acquiring newer more powerful cards. And this city-duelist is just one in another on the path to becoming a great duelist."

She placed the card on the table and declared, "I activate Raigeki! All your monsters are now destroyed!" A large lightning bolt came down and struck Ayami's field, destroying The Tricky and her face-down monster as they disappeared into pixels. "You're finished! Harpie Lady Sisters, attack her directly!" Her three harpies began to form the triangle formation as they unleashed their attack.

"I activate a Tra-..." as Ayami declared her move, she noticed how Harpie Lady Sisters stared at her with a dark creepy gaze. She literally froze up in fright. The X shaped beam fired and slammed into her podium as she screamed.

"Ayami!" Meo cried out as Ayami's Life Points dropped.

(Ayami: 3850 LP - 1950 = 1900 LP)

Jenna was surprised by what had happened. "What the..." she regained focus as she declared, "Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack!" Harpie's Pet Dragon unleashed a flame-breath toward Ayami with great intensity.

"Uh oh!" Ko yelled, "If this hits it'll be over for Ayami! Is this the end of our tournament qualifier!"

Ayami gritted her teeth and said to herself, "Get a grip...they aren't real, they aren't real. And the one attacking isn't them, it's...just another monster!" A card flipped open on the field and absorbed the impact of the flames.

"What!" Jenna exclaimed.

The card that activated was Magical Trick Mirror. "This is Magical Trick Mirror. When you declared that attack, I am allowed to select a Spell card from your Graveyard and this card's effect becomes it!" A body of mirrors with a magician's hat appeared as an image of Raigeki appeared in one of the mirrors. "And I choose to use, the effect of Raigeki!"

The mirror-like magician converted into energy and flew into the sky, where it became a bolt of lightning as it struck Jenna's field. All her monsters disintegrated into pixels right in front of her as she was left with a blank expression, "N...no way!"

"She literally used her card against her!" Marcus exclaimed.

Meo cheered, "Alright Ayami!"

"I figured as much." Zeke commented. "Even in fear she finds a way out of things, albeit sloppy though."

Lucinde smiled widely, "Mm hm."

"You were holding back." Jenna was angered by this. "I knew you were holding back! You could have pulled that card off right from the first attack, and that other face-down card you have, you could have used it anytime too couldn't you! What gives! Why are you acting like you can't take me seriously! Why!"

"I'm sorry." Ayami said simply. Jenna's expression quickly changed as Ayami explained, "You're right. I wasn't taking you seriously. But it's not for what you think. I'd like to say why but...you'd find it embarrassing."

"What are you talking about..." Jenna realized by looking at her Harpy Lady card that was in her graveyard what the problem was. "Of course...you're afraid of some of my monsters."

Ayami nodded. "That's right. You see the truth is I..."

"Save it." Ayami was surprised as Jenna continued, "I don't need any more excuses. Just, don't hold back anymore. Whatever kind of problem you have, just learn to get over it and don't let it get into the game. If I'm going to beat you I want it when you're at your most confident, and not when you're acting like a little scared child." She placed the last card from her hand on the table, "I set 1 card face-down. That ends my turn."

She looked down at her card and thought, "With Call of the Haunted I can bring back my Harpie's Pet Dragon. If things go well for me I can win. Though...at this point the result is pretty clear."

Ayami drew her card and stared at it for a moment. "Right then, no more doubts. Time to finish things for real." She proceeded with her turn, "I activate the Spell card Spider's Web! This lets me take a Spell card you used last turn from your Graveyard and add it to my hand!" A shot of web whipped out from Ayami's podium as it latched onto Pot of Greed from Jenna's graveyard pile. It flung over to Aymai as she caught it with her fingers. "The card I'll be using is Pot of Greed!" She placed the card on the table as she drew 2 cards.

"Crap!" thought Jenna worryingly, "Her hand has increased even more!"

"I activate the Spell card The Shallow Grave! This card lets us both Special Summon a monster from our Graveyard face-down." Ayami picked one monster and set it on the table, as did Jenna on her side. "Next I summon Sasuke Samurai in attack mode!" A small warrior with a big red head and blue pony-tail appeared (ATK 500). "Then after that I activate Book of Taiyou! This will let me flip a monster that is face-down!"

"So I take it you're going to flip over your White Ninja and use it to destroy my face-down monster." Jenna then thought to herself, "But if you do that, you won't be able to defeat my Pet Dragon once it returns to the field. With that it seems victory is really..."

"Not White Ninja." Ayami interrupted.

"What?"

"I realize that either way it might end in your favor, but that's why I'm going to try for a much safer approach." She flipped over her monster and declared, "I reveal Sazanku, Karakuri Ninja!" A mechanical ninja with a short sword and telescope appeared as it slashed the air a few times (ATK 1200). "When this monster is Flip Summoned I need to send 1 face-up monster on the field to the Graveyard, and I choose Sasuke Samurai!" Sasuke disappeared from the field as she declared it.

Jenna retorted, "Pointless! You know my monsters have a higher defense than that thing! So attacking my face-down will only..."

"Who said anything about attacking your monster? I'm attacking you!"

"What!"

Jenna stretched her arm forward and declared, "Sazanku, Direct Attack!" Sazanku ran forward as Ayami explained, "You see during the same turn as it was flipped, this card can also attack directly. The thing with this card is that it must always attack when it can, and then it's changed to defense mode when it becomes an attack target. So even if you wanted to, the duel wouldn't end on your turn. But either way, if I couldn't end it here then you would have won, so you should consider yourself proud knowing you pushed me into a corner. Though...-" she scratched her head in embarrassment, "-I guess playing with a better head would have made it better for me I guess."

Sazanku leapt into the air as it was coming toward Jenna. She thought to herself, "Indeed. For in the end, it was clear that you had victory all along." Sazanku slashed through Jenna with his blade as it went by her, depleting the rest of her Life Points.

(Jenna: 1100 LP - 1200 = 0 LP)

The crowd started to cheer as Ko announced, "It's over! The winner of the first match is Sukioh Ayami!"

Jenna came down from her podium and walked up to Marcus and Jens. "Sorry guys, looks like I lost."

"Don't sweat it." said Marcus in a cheery way, "You did well, really!"

Jens turned his head slightly, "At least we know what her deck is like now, so we can better adjust to her strategy."

"You really think you could beat her with that deck of yours?" she remarked slyly.

"Better than you could."

Marcus motioned his arms as to calm them, "Guys, guys, relax! The point is that we're having fun, and right now I'm stoked since if I win my match, I get to face her next! This is going to be fun!"

Jens shook his head. "You certainly are enthusiastic as usual."

Ayami stepped down from her podium as Meo came up to her, "Ayami?"

"Did you see that? I thought it was over for me there, but I won!" she tried to say cheerfully however Meo had a look on his face that showed signs of concern. "Uh...what's wrong?"

"Earlier you were acting really strange. It looked like you were scared of something, you even screamed at some point. Is...is everything alright?"

For a moment Ayami knew what he was talking about. Earlier when Harpie Lady was out she was indeed frightened. Regardless of that, she smiled and said, "Don't worry about it. It's nothing for you to be concerned about." Meo was still confused as Ayami continued, "Anyway, now that we have time we should really get that card of yours checked in so you can legally play it in the tournament. Come on, it's just over here." She urged him forward as they walked together.

Out in the plains the burnt body of the sloth creature laid as red hound-like creatures began to tear away at it. They soon run away as a large bird-like beastian landed by the corpse. He was slim-looking and was wearing a black gown of sorts. His feathers were pitch-black and his eyes green. He examined the corpse for a moment before seeing the wheel tracks on the road nearby. He looked beyond where the corpse was and concluded, "So he's done with it already." Beyond the body was a clearing that seemed to have been caused by a large forward blast. It was all burnt just like the body.

To Be Continued...


End file.
